


Mystic Force: The Forgotten Ray Of Light

by pink_green_white_4ever



Series: Mystic Force: Light Series [1]
Category: Power Rangers Mystic Force
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-03
Updated: 2016-10-03
Packaged: 2018-08-19 05:56:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,701
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8192804
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pink_green_white_4ever/pseuds/pink_green_white_4ever
Summary: Now that the battle with the Master is over, Daggeron must find his missing family. But what if they were right under his nose the entire time? Shocking revelations come that could split the Mystic Force forever.





	1. Prologue: Shocking Revelations

**Author's Note:**

> This fic was written almost a decade ago for my sisters. Please remember, it's already finished. There will be a sequel

**Prologue:** Shocking Revelations  
 **By:** Pink-Green-White-4ever  
 **Last Revised:** March 19, 2007

 **Summary:** Now that the battle with the Master is over, Daggeron must find his missing family.  But what if they were right under his nose the entire time?  Shocking revelations come that could split the Mystic Force forever.  
 **Rated:** T for now  
 **Ships:** NM,VX, CC, UL, DOC

 **Disclaimer:** I don’t own them, I wish I did.

 **Dedication:** To Angel and Enigmaforum, my Maddick and Vander fans.  You two inspired this story, thank you so much for being my cheerleaders!

 **AN:** So yeah, I finally started my first full-fledged Mystic Force story….I didn’t think this would ever happen.  This idea is original, at least I think so.  I haven’t seen anyone else do it, so *crosses fingers* 

\--

The morning started like any other Saturday in the Rocca household had since the defeat of the Master and the retirement of the Mystic Force Rangers.  Madison was up with the sun to shower, and after a tug-a-war with Vida’s blankets to get the former Pink Ranger out of bed, Madison bounced downstairs to make breakfast.  Once both of them were dressed in relatively warm clothes, and had eaten, they took Vida’s truck to Chip’s to grab the boys and head to The Rock Porium, where they’d leave the truck and use the trees to head to Rootcore for their morning training with Daggeron, and the newly returned Lianbow and Nick.

“You know, why is it we’re running around the woods at seven in the morning in the bitter cold of March?” Xander complained as the five former Rangers took a break to catch their breaths.  Each week, Daggeron had increased their running trail by a half mile, so that they were currently running three miles, and all of them were tired.  Nick leaned against a tree, Madison standing next to him with her head on his shoulder.  Chip was bent over at the waist, his hands on his knees as his chest heaved in an attempt to calm his breathing.  Vida leaned against a fallen tree, trying to crack her neck while Xander stood in front of them with his arms spread wide, the gesturing accompanying his words.

“If you think so lightly of the run, Xander, you can repeat it again this afternoon,” Daggeron’s voice echoed through the trees.  The five Rangers straightened and began looking around.  Normally when their mentor popped up like this, it meant it was time for their hand to hand combat training.  “You have a third of a mile left, I suggest you hurry up.”

Taking in a deep breath, Chip, Nick and Madison began to run, while Vida rolled her eyes and glared at Xander.  “Way to go, Xander the Great.  We’re probably going to get extra punishment now.”  Xander just stared at Vida’s back as she took off after the others, before he followed a few seconds later.

Once the team had returned to Rootcore, Vida, Xander and Chip headed off back to The Rock Porium for their afternoon shifts while Madison headed to the library to catch up on some spell training with Clare.  After a quick shower, Nick found himself wandering around, and happened across his parents and Daggeron in the main room standing by the Xenotome.

“Daggeron, are you sure this is a wise decision?” Lianbow asked the pacing knight.

“I’ve wanted to look for her since Madison freed me, but because of the battles and the threat of the Master, I didn’t dare search her out,” Daggeron told them.  “I need to find her, find out what happened to her.”

“Daggeron,” Udonna spoke softly, moving lay a delicate hand over his heart.  “You do realize any number of things could have happened by now, don’t you?”

“Yes, I do, but I need to know, even if it’s just for closure.”

Lianbow walked to them and put his hand on Daggeron’s shoulder.  “Then you’ve got our full support, and all our resources are at your disposal.”

The Solaris Knight smiled his thanks.  “I’m going to leave immediately, please tell the Rangers I’ll be back as soon as I can.”

“We will,” Udonna told him.  “Do you want us to tell them why you’ve gone?”

“I’ll explain to them the story about Elektra when I return with some more news.”  That said, Daggeron hugged them both and turned to leave.

“Lianbow, what are you thoughts on this?” Udonna asked, turning to her husband.

“I can understand where he’s coming from,” he said, pulling his wife into his arms.  “It’s the same as us – he’s searching for his other half, for his wife, and he’s not going to stop until he finds out what happened to her.  The same as we did with each other, and Nick.”

Standing out of sight, Nick let his jaw drop when he heard his father say wife.  ‘Daggeron was married?’ he asked himself, before turning and heading for the library to get Madison.

\--

“Are you serious?” Vida questioned as Nick stood near the cash register relating the situation to the others.

“I’m dead serious,” Nick told them.  “My dad is probably going to take over our training until Daggeron gets back.”

Madison let out an indefinable sound.  “Shouldn’t we be doing something?  I mean, we can help, right?  There has to be something we can do.”

The others looked just as annoyed at being helpless as the former Blue Ranger did.  “Until we find out more about Daggeron’s wife, we don’t have much to go on,” Chip commented.

“I’ve got an idea,” Vida spoke up, a smirk sliding onto her face and her eyebrows wiggling.  “Who knows what went on then that could tell us about her without telling us to mind our own business?”

Her four teammates stood there staring at her, shrugging.  A noise broke them from their silence, the team turning to see the door to the store opening and Leelee and Phineas coming in together.  Smiles broke out on the faces of the five, with Xander, Chip, Madison and Nick calling out, “PHINEAS!”

Vida just smiled and nodded, the five moving to pounce on their Troblin friend.  “Hey Phineas, we’ve got something we need to ask you,” Vida started.

\--

“So let me get this straight, you want me, Troblin extraordinaire and the guy who was around during the Great War, to tell you what happened to Elektra, Daggeron’s wife?” Phineas started as the group of six sat at a table at an outdoor café down the street from the record shop.

“Yes,” Vida responded.

“Well, gee, I don’t know if I remember an Elektra, to tell you the truth,” he started, rubbing a hand over his chin.  “That’s nearly twenty years ago, a lot has happened since then.”

Xander and Vida rolled their eyes, while Nick glared, Madison gave him an encouraging smile and Chip wrinkled his nose.  “You knew about Daggeron’s fight with Calindor and that the baby you brought here was Bowen, why can’t you remember about Daggeron’s wife?” Chip asked.

Phineas looked sheepish as he stared at the Rangers.  “I sorta remember a woman,” he told them.  “She was okay looking, if you ask me.  Really long black hair, always wore it in a braid.  She had these gray-black eyes, was fairly tanned, slender, probably a little taller than Vida and Madison.  She was a healer and a fighter, and some said she was a barb or musician, a storyteller if you will.”

“What happened to her?” Xander prodded.

Phineas shrugged.  “Last I heard, Calindor tried to capture her, turn her against the Mystics so he could render Daggeron useless, but she disappeared during the final battle.”  Phineas said it so matter-of-factly that the Rangers could only stare at him like he’d gone crazy.  “What?  I told you I didn’t remember much, geez.”

“Okay, so we have some more to go on,” Nick started.  “What do we do?”  
  
Madison looked thoughtful.  “How about heading to some of the villages around Rootcore?” she asked.  “I mean, we’ve got her name, and what she did, and the fact that she’s Daggeron’s wife.  The villagers have to know something, right?  
  
“I want to pose a question,” Xander butted in.  When the others turned to look at him, he started again.  “What if something like what happened to Nick happened to her?  What if she’s here in the human realm?”


	2. Chapter 1: The Search Begins

**Chapter 1:** The Search Begins  
 **By:** Pink-Green-White-4ever  
 **Last Revised:** March 20, 2007

**Summary:** Now that the battle with the Master is over, Daggeron must find his missing family.  But what if they were right under his nose the entire time?  Shocking revelations come that could split the Mystic Force forever.  
 **Rated:** T for now  
 **Ships:** NM, VX, CC, UL, DOC

**Disclaimer:** I don’t own them, I wish I did.

**Dedication:** To Angel and Enigmaforum, for lifting me up, for sticking up for me, for being two of the best little sisters in the world.  I adore you both.  And to Overdrive Red, -- sticks out her tongue -- Of course I love you Mel!  You always manage to brighten my day with the yummy SydSky and RoseMack ness!

**AN:** The support by the readers for this story has been overwhelming.  I got more reviews for the prologue than I ever expected.  You guys rock!  I’m not going to answer any questions; I just want you to read the story.  I will say this though - several of you were very close to finding out the secret!

\--

Ella Amaya Rocca smiled as she heard the soft footfalls of her twin, nearly eighteen-year-old daughters on the stairs.  For some odd reason, she’d always been able to distinguish theirs from everyone else in their house.  It was almost like a sixth sense when it came to her eldest two, or that’s what she’d describe it if she believed in that sort of thing.  Her smile grew wider when she looked up from making lunches for her three younger children and found Vida and Madison nudging each other back and forth and whispering.  “Alright you two, what’s the big secret?”

Maddy pushed Vida closer to their mother and nodded.  “Mom, we need some help with a project we’re working on.”

Her oldest daughter’s comment sent up red flags with her.  The girls were smart enough, capable enough and resourceful enough that over the years, they’d gradually stopped asking for help with their school work.  Vida had become Ms. Independent, preferring to go her own way and do her own thing, well within the confines of being a well behaved child, while Madison had become introverted, only communicating when spoken to and constantly attached to her ever outspoken sister.  In the last year, much of that had remained, but her babies had grown as well.  Vida wasn’t as quick to rush into a situation, especially where Madison was concerned, and Maddy had become better at articulating her wants and desires, and taking care of herself.  She had an idea that it had something to do with the boys they hung out with – Nick Russell, Xander Bly and Chip Thorn. 

Chip had been a regular fixture around the Rocca household since the girls had started school – Vida had saved him from a fifth grade bully when they’d been in kindergarten, and he’d worshipped her since.  Xander had come when the girls had entered eighth grade, and had been a permanent fixture as well.  And in the last year, Nick Russell had been steadily making a place for himself in the girls’ lives.  It amazed Ella that Vida let Nick anywhere near Madison, especially considering how over protective she was, but it was happening.  Maddy was falling head over heels in love with the young man.  Alexander had commented on more than one occasion that their daughter was falling in love, but she’d tried not to think about it.  Now, whenever she saw the two together, she was sure her husband had been dead on.

“What kind of project?” Ella asked after a few moments pause.

“Mom, it’s a long story, one we can’t divulge the details to, but suffice to say, we need to know how to go about looking for someone who’s been missing for say…twenty or so years?” Vida told her, biting her lip as she looked up at her mother through her eyelashes, a tactic Ella knew she’d learned from Madison.

Both Madison and Vida looked slightly startled when a panicked look entered their mother’s eyes, but dismissed it as the look was gone before they could blink.  “Why are you asking me?  I’m not a genealogist.”

“No, but you’re a Professor of History, same difference,” Maddy poked into the conversation.

Ella sighed and shook her head, putting the finishing touches on the sandwiches for the three children she could hear coming down the stairs.  “AJ, grab juice boxes for everyone,” Ella told her son, the oldest of the three younger children.  “Celeste, pick out a piece of fruit for each of you, and Bobby, grab some yogurt or a pudding cup for the three of you from the fridge.”

Maddy and Vida smiled at their siblings, who were doing their morning rush around the kitchen while their mother made breakfast and lunches.  Their father had left for work some hours before, having a nine o’clock class, as he always did.  Now that the two of them were nearly done with their senior year of high school, they didn’t have class until nearly ten thirty in the morning because they’d both decided to take late start since they had all their credits pretty much for graduation.

“Girls, we’ll discuss this tonight after dinner, right now, I need you to drive the three of them to school, I have a meeting with the campus director at the university and I still need to get ready.”

“You got it Mom,” Vida laughed, heading out to warm her truck up.

“Madison, try starting at the library,” Ella told her, kissing her on the forehead.  “Look for information on a missing person from that time period.”

Maddy smiled.  “Thanks Mom.  Come on munchkins!” she called out to her siblings, the four heading out to Vida’s vehicle.

\--

“You’d think will all the money our parents pay in taxes, they’d use some of it to clean the dust in here,” Chip muttered, swishing his hand in front of him to clear away the dust that flew up from the book he’d opened.

He, Vida and Xander had gone to Briarwood’s public library to start their search for Daggeron’s wife.  Maddy was stuck at work until seven and then she was going to go join Nick at Rootcore.  The former Red Ranger had said he was going to take Phineas and Leelee and start poking around some of the villages to see what he could find and that he’d report back with his findings.

“No one comes in here anymore since everything’s on computers now,” Xander told him.

“Which is our next option if we can’t find anything in here,” Vida muttered, plopping a heavy book made from old newspapers on the table, causing dust to rise.  The boys coughed and fanned away the dust before glaring at the smirking Vida.  “Oops, did I do that?”

“Funny V, real funny,” Xander muttered.

“So, um, exactly what are we looking for?” Chip asked.

“Maddy said Mom told her to start with missing person’s cases for that time period, but considering the situation, I’d say start with found person’s cases,” Vida suggested.

\--

Daggeron smiled as he stepped off his magic carpet near the village of Estrella.  He’d spoken to the children of some old friends who lived in Woodland Village and they had told him Elder Hima had moved on to Estrella some years before.  Elder Hima was the last living person who’d known Daggeron and Elektra quite personally from the time before the Great War.  It was nice, after all the darkness and destruction the Master and his forces had wrought, to see the villages of the magical realm finally bustling with life again.

“Excuse me,” Daggeron started, seeing an elf pushing a wagon toward the village.

The elf’s widened when he saw Daggeron approach him.  “Solaris Knight,” the elf gasped, dropping to a knee before him.

“Please, stand,” Daggeron told him, feeling uncomfortable.  “I need help, information if you will.”

“Of course.”

“I’m looking for Elder Hima.  Can you tell me where to find him?” Daggeron asked.

The elf sighed even as a sad look crossed his face.  “Elder Hima passed away several months ago, after releasing the last of his magic to help the prophesized ones in the fight with the Master.”  When Daggeron’s face tightened in pain, the elf’s face brightened.  “But you know, he may have told the Purple Witch many things from his past.  They were companions, if you will.”

“Can you tell me where she lives?” Daggeron asked.

“On the other side of the blue river, down the middle prong of the fork in the road.”

“Thank you,” Daggeron told him, before getting back on the carpet and heading for the blue river and the fork in the road.

\--

“No luck at the library, mates,” Xander huffed, sinking down into a chair in Nick’s room.  Vida was sitting on the arm of his chair, while Chip was sitting on the long window seat Lianbow had installed for Nick.  Nick and Maddy, of course, were sitting on Nick’s bed, with Maddy wrapped securely in the former Red Ranger’s arms.

Nick nodded and leaned his cheek against Maddy’s head.  “Leelee, Phineas and I had no luck at Woodland Village either.  No one knew Elektra, and most of them told us Daggeron had gone on to the village of Estrella, a whole day’s walk from here, sometime after he’d been there.”

“Maybe…” Chip started, drawing the others’ attention to him.  “Maybe we should ask your parents, Nick.”

“Are you crazy?” Vida snapped.  “Udonna and Lianbow are going to ask us how we found out, which is going to get Nick in trouble, then they’re going to tell us to mind our own business until Daggeron’s good and ready to tell us.”

“Geez, V, don’t snap at me,” Chip snapped back.  “It was just a suggestion.”

Vida glared at him and hurled the pillow Xander had been holding toward him.  The pillow missed its mark, hitting the wall instead of Chip, and Vida screamed when she suddenly and unexpectedly lost her balance and found herself in Xander’s lap.

Chip, Maddy and Nick started snickering while Xander just smiled at the squirming Vida, who was getting madder and madder by the second.  “Chip, as soon as I get up, I’m going to wring your neck!”  Knowing the threat was real, Chip bolted from the window seat to hide on the other side of Nick’s bed.  Just as Vida moved to chase him, Xander’s arms wrapped around her waist and held her firmly in his lap.  The former Pink Ranger turned her attention to the man holding her, her eyes flaming with anger.  “Xander Bly!  Let me go this instant!”

“Not on your life, V; just calm down, killing Chip is not a good idea.”

“Chip, one suggestion,” Nick said, leaning over the side of his bed.

“What’s that?” Chip asked, looking up from his hiding place.

“Run.”

“Point taken.  Talk to you guys later!” Chip said, rushing from the room.

“XANDER!  LET ME GO!”

“V, calm down,” he calmly told her, his hold tightening on her waist.  “Chip has a point though; we should talk to Lianbow and Udonna.”

“I’ll do it,” Maddy said softly.  “I’m the last person they’d expect to be poking around asking about stuff.”

“Fine,” Vida mutters, folding her arms over her chest while Xander smirks from behind her, causing Nick to roll his eyes and Maddy to laugh.

\--

Daggeron approached the cottage just as the sun was setting.  It was small and falling apart in spots, but it looked cozy enough.  Bracing himself, he walked toward the door and then lifted his hand and knocked.

The door opened slowly, revealing a hooded figure on the other side.  “Well, the legendary Warrior of the Sun has finally come calling,” a woman’s raspy voice emitted from the figure.  “Come in.”

“I was told that Elder Hima once lived here,” Daggeron started.

“Indeed he did, and he died some months ago,” she told him, gesturing for him to sit in a chair by the fire.  “I already know why you’ve come, Solaris Knight.  You seek information on your wife of twenty years passed, Elektra.”

Daggeron swallowed and frowned but his attention was on her.  She carefully sat in a chair across from him, her hands stroking over the fur of the black cat that had jumped into her lap.  “Hima told me many things during his years here,” she started.  “We were friends, and lovers, and I knew everything he told me, and more he didn’t.  He spoke of what happened during the final battle, when Morticon and Imperious had injured him to the point that he couldn’t help the Mystics in the fight.  He also spoke of the regret he had, where his prized four pupils were concerned.”

“Lianbow, Udonna, Elektra and…”

“You,” she finished for him.  “Yes.  He’d heard rumors for years about all of you, with only Udonna remaining to put some to rest, and even that was not good enough.  She went into seclusion, only those in Woodland Village seeing in her once in a while.  The castle all of you shared fell into disrepair, and occasionally, Hima went out to walk around it.  Some months back, when the Mystic Force first appeared, he finally got the full story from one of his friends, an ally to the cause, who was dying.”

She stared up through the dark hood, watching his face contort in confusion and pain.  “While you were protecting The Light, and the Mystics and Udonna were fighting off the Darkness, Elektra was gathering more forces and was found by Calindor, who as you know turned into Imperious.”  Daggeron nodded; his chest tightening even as he seemed to know what was coming.  “He attacked the group she’d been gathering, and only she was strong enough, skilled enough, to face him alone.  He apparently rambled on and on about taking her, making her his to show you who was the better man, about turning her against you.”

“I trusted him with so much, we all did, and he betrayed us, all,” Daggeron muttered, pain lacing his voice.

“Apparently, Elektra knew something none of us did,” she told him softly.  “Do you remember the prophecy surrounding The Light?”  Daggeron’s eyes narrowed at her.  “The one about those who would fight beside The Light: the strong tree, the powerful lightning, the calming ocean and the raging wind?”

“They were thought to come from the Mystics themselves, but we never deciphered the entire prophecy.”

“We did, after the last battle,” she told him, smiling.  “Hima deciphered the whole thing.  It mentioned something about a bright light water sprite.”

“Elektra Nixie,” he whispered his wife’s full name.

“The raging wind and the calming ocean were to come in the form of one from she who bore the name bright light water sprite.”

“I don’t understand,” Daggeron murmured.

“Elektra carried your offspring, Daggeron,” she told him softly, watching him pale.  “She was carrying the ocean and the wind within her when the final battle began.”

“How do you know this?” he questioned.

“I was the midwife she spoke with when she realized she was with child.  Considering she’d only been with child for less than a month, and how much weight she’d gained, and the fact that I can sense life forms and magic, I knew she was carrying the wind and the ocean.”

Daggeron’s eyes went wide.  “TWINS?”

\--

“Would you stop splashing me?” Vida’s voice lifted from the kitchen.  Ella heard Madison giggle and stopped to see what they were doing.  Her eyes widened when she saw the plates from dinner floating from the island in the center of the kitchen to plop down in the sink, splashing Vida who was washing the dishes.  “Maddy!  I’m not joking!  Stop using your magic before I tell Udonna and Daggeron!”

“Oh poo, you spoil sport,” Maddy teased, walking over to nudge her sister.  “I’ll bet if it was Xander, you’d be all ‘OH Xander!  Splash me some more!’” Maddy taunted.

“Oh please!”

Ella stood there as her daughters continued their argument, never aware that their mother was watching.  A second later, it was almost like a shroud was suddenly placed over her eyes and different people were suddenly in front of her.

_“He’s beautiful, Udonna,” she told the red haired woman in the beautiful purple dress.  “He’s got your face and Lianbow’s coloring.”_

_“Thank you,” Udonna spoke, caressing the head of the infant she was holding.  “I’m so happy he’s healthy and happy.”_

_“And he’ll be protected,” she told her friend.  “Daggeron and the others will see to it.”_

_Udonna smiled.  “I know.  I just fear something evil has made its way into our circle, but I can’t quite pin down what.”  Udonna shook her head and watched her friend hold her son.  “Elektra?”_

_“Yes?”_

_“Have you and Daggeron thought about when you’re going to start your family?” Udonna asked softly, taking her son from her friend’s arms and laying him in his bed._

_She just smiled.  “I think we may have already.”_

_Udonna’s eyes widened and her lips curved into a smile.  “Really?”_

_“I’m going to speak with the midwife soon, but I want to make sure I don’t have my cycle before I go.”_

_“Understandable.  You’ll make wonderful parents.”_

_“I certainly hope so.”_

“Mom?”

Ella blinked her eyes rapidly when she found Vida and Madison in front of her, waving their hands in front of her face.  Both girls looked frightened.  Once the disorientation faded, Ella realized she was sitting in the middle of the hallway, the girls kneeling with her.  “W-what happened?”

“Why don’t you tell us?  We heard you gasp then saw you slide down the wall,” Vida explained.

Ella shook her head, the images from a few moments before fading into the background, forgotten.  “I don’t remember.  I heard you two arguing about splashing each other, and Maddy teasing you about Xander, then nothing until you two were in front of me.”

“Do you want me to call Dad?” Maddy asked.

Ella blew out a breath.  “No, I’m fine.  Your father has a department meeting tonight; I don’t want to bug him.  I’m fine, really,” she tried to reassure her girls, but from the looks in their eyes knew that they were keeping quiet because she wasn’t making a big deal about it.

“Come on, I’ll help you to your room, then Maddy and I can get the munchkins ready for bed,” Vida murmured, helping her to her feet before helping her up the stairs.

Maddy watched her mother and sister go, her arms sliding around her waist as a shiver raced through her.  She was scared; she’d never seen her mother look so helpless before.  Biting her lip, the former Blue Mystic Ranger debated doing what her heart was screaming at her too before she decided she wasn’t about to put her wants second to anything.  Reaching into her pocket, she pulled out her morpher and hit a button.  “Hey Nick, can you come over to my house?  No, nothing’s wrong, I just…I need you.

\--

Vida was upstairs getting their siblings into bed while Maddy sat on the porch swing, wrapped in a heavy blue and red stripped blanket, waiting for the familiar sound of Nick’s motorcycle.  She was still freaked out from what had happened earlier with their mom, and felt incredibly childish for causing Nick to come over in the middle of the night, but she couldn’t help it.

“Maddy?”

The familiar sound of her boyfriend’s voice calmed Madison’s poor nerves.  She smiled when he hurried up the walkway from the curb to where she sat on the porch.  He stopped at the top step and just looked at her while she stared at him from the swing.  “Hi.”

“Is everything okay?  You sounded scared earlier,” he murmured, setting his helmet on the table by the door before moving to sit with her on the swing.  His worry grew when Maddy just cuddled against him, remaining silent.

“Mom had an…incident earlier, and it freaked me out a bit.”

“Is she okay?” he prodded.

“She says she is, but I’m not sure,” Maddy told him, looking up into his beloved eyes from her place on his shoulder.  “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to worry you, I was just freaked out and I wanted…”

Nick smiled and hugged her closer to him.  “Don’t apologize, its okay,” he told her softly, leaning his head against hers.  “That’s what boyfriends are for, making their girlfriends feel safe.”

“I always feel safe with you,” she whispered, closing her eyes and just letting herself float in the sea of warmth, love, and protection she felt each time Nick touched her.

“And you always will,” he whispered back, letting whatever tension had built on the ride over fade as he held her against him, safe, whole, and loved.

\--

Vida smiled as she shut the curtains to the front window.  Maddy and Nick were sitting on the porch, cuddling.  She was glad her sister had someone who made her feel safe and loved, and Vida was only too glad it was Nick, someone she knew she could trust not to hurt her twin.  Shaking her head, Vida headed upstairs to her and Maddy’s room to get ready for school the next morning.

Just as she hit the door, the phone began to ring.  Rolling her eyes, she dove for the receiver and hoped she’d gotten it in time before it woke anyone else up.  “Rocca residence, Vida speaking.”

“Hey V,” Xander’s thick accented voice caressed her ears.  “What’s shaking?”

“My fist in your face, why are you calling at nine thirty at night on a school night?”  Surprisingly, Xander was quiet after she’d asked.  “Xander, what’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong, V, I was just calling to make sure you’re okay,” he told her, pausing after he’d said it.

Vida’s eyebrows knitted together in confusion.  There was no way Xander would know what had just happened with her mom an hour before.  “I’m fine, why wouldn’t I be?”

“I just…never mind.  I’ll see you in class tomorrow.”

“Xander, wait,” she breathed.  “Tell me.”

“I just got this weird flash that something was wrong, I wanted to check on you.  Maddy’s okay too, right?”

“She’s fine.  She called Nick a bit ago and they’re out sitting on the swing,” Vida told him, debating whether or not to say something about her mom.  “Xander, something actually did happen earlier.”

“What?”  He sounded worried, and anxious.  Sighing, Vida told him the whole story, feeling like a complete idiot for spilling her fears to him, but afterwards, when he was quiet, she wondered what he was thinking.  “Is she alright now?  Are you and Maddy okay?”

“We’re fine.  I put Mom to bed; she looked so out of it.  I feel stupid for saying this, but it shook me up a little more than I wanted Maddy to see.”

“V, she’s your mum, you have every right to be worried.  If it was my mum, I’d be just as flipped out, trust me.  Look, Mum’s yelling for me to take the trash out before bed, I’ve got to go.  I’ll talk to you tomorrow.”

“Alright.  Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

“And Xander?” she quickly got out before he hung up.

“What V?”

“Thanks for calling.”

He chuckled.  “Anytime.  Sweet dreams.”

Vida bit her lip as she hung up the phone and stared at it.  She felt better about what had happened to her mom, but she was a little startled by Xander’s phone call, and by the fluttering she felt in her stomach when she thought about what he’d said.


	3. Chapter 2: Sharing The Secret

**Chapter 2:** Sharing The Secret  
 **By:** Pink-Green-White-4ever  
 **Last Revised:** March 30, 2007

**Summary:** Now that the battle with the Master is over, Daggeron must find his missing family.  But what if they were right under his nose the entire time?  Shocking revelations come that could split the Mystic Force forever.  
 **Rated:** T for now  
 **Ships:** NM, VX, CC, UL, DOC

**Disclaimer:** I don’t own them, I wish I did.

**Dedication:** To Angel and Enigmaforum, for lifting me up and for being two of the best little sisters in the world.  I adore you both.  Destiny45…thanks for the support, I appreciate it and your enthusiasm more than you will ever realize.

**AN:** So the fun begins, stuff is revealed, and yeah, the plot thickens.  Thanks for reading!

\--

Daggeron lay on the pallet on the floor, staring into the fire.  The purple witch had told him what had happened to his wife and his unborn children.  During her fight with Calindor, Elektra had been injured and then she’d fled.  No one had known where she’d gone and no one had heard from or about her since.  ‘She’s still alive, I’d know if she was dead’ he thought.  His thoughts then turned to his children.  ‘I hope they had a good life’ he prayed as he started to fall asleep.  ‘The ocean and the wind, just like Maddy and Vida.’

\--

Alexander Rocca frowned as his daughter’s boyfriend sped down the street on his motorcycle.  He’d been surprised to find Maddy and Nick asleep on the swing, and then his daughter had told him what had occurred earlier in the night with his wife.  Ella had never had an episode like that and he knew it must have been bad to shake his unshakable girls.  He was only so thankful his youngest three had been in another room and hadn’t been panicked.  Shaking his head, Alex headed up to the master bedroom to check on his wife.

He found Ella sitting on their bed, flipping through a photo album, one he knew had pictures of Maddy and Vida when they were little - from the time they were born until they were just starting school.  “Hi,” he whispered, leaning over to kiss her.

“How was your meeting?” Ella asked.

“Not anywhere as exciting as your night.”

Ella gave him a look that spoke volumes.  “The girls blew it out of proportion.”

Alex gave a laugh and started getting ready for bed.  “Ella, our girls don’t blow things out of proportion.  They’re the two most level-headed young women I’ve ever had the pleasure of knowing.”

“I know I scared Maddy.”

“I know.  I talked to Nick before he left.  Vida’s freaked out too.”

“I don’t know how or why it happened,” Ella tried to explain.

Alex sighed as he slid into bed and pulled her into his arms.  “Maybe you should go to the doctor?”

“And tell him what?  I had a vision and nearly passed out?  What’s he going to tell me?” Ella huffed.

“Honey, what if it’s your memories coming back?”

Ella’s gray eyes widened in shock.  She hadn’t thought about that being a possibility.  “Why now?’

Alex sighed.  “I don’t know, sweetheart, I don’t know.”

\--

“You two look like death warmed over,” Jenji commented when Maddy and Vida entered Rootcore.

“That’s about how we feel,” Vida grumbled.

“Long night?” Clare asked, careful not to upset either of them.  Maddy wasn’t prone to lashing out, but Vida had been known to once in a while.

Maddy sunk down on her chair at the crystal ball table and sighed.  “Did Nick tell you what happened last night?”

“He mentioned something happened to your mom,” Clare shared.

“That’s putting it mildly,” Vida sighed, sinking down into her chair as well.

“Good afternoon,” Udonna called out as she and Lianbow entered.  “How are the two of you feeling?”

“Tired,” the girls responded, yawning.

Udonna moved to study them both.  Vida was tired, but vibrating with pent up energy and Madison seemed listless and lethargic.  “I want you to go up stairs and rest, Madison.  Vida, come with me.”  The girls made to protest by Udonna’s facial expression stopped them in their tracks.  “Don’t argue, just do as I say.  Lianbow, will you get Madison settled in while I see to Vida?”

The Red Wolf nodded and reached out for his charge’s hand.  Madison essayed a smile in his direction, took his hand, and let him lead her from the room while Vida moved to follow Udonna.

\--

Maddy smiled when Lianbow led her into Nick’s room.  “Into bed, Little Mermaid,” he murmured, pulling the covers back.  Maddy shucked her sweatshirt and tennis shoes before crawling under the familiar scented covers.

“Where’s Nick?” she yawned.

“Exercising Fireheart; go to sleep, Maddy,” he told her.  As she drifted off, he leaned down and kissed her forehead.  “Sleep tight.”

\--

Vida was surprised when she and Udonna stopped in one of the clearings near Rootcore.  Udonna spoke quietly, her voice lifting in a spell Vida couldn’t decipher.  Before the former Pink Ranger could blink, she was in an alternate dimension like the ones Daggeron used to train the team.

“Go ahead and let it all out,” Udonna urged her.

Vida looked confused.  “Huh?”  Udonna gave her a look that said everything the White Ranger was thinking.  Closing her eyes, Vida let the control she had carefully crafted around her powers go.  Her body instantly turned into a raging storm, the wind and rain blowing and soaking everything in sight, everything but Udonna.  The White Ranger wasn’t affected at all by the temper the former Pink Ranger was displaying.  After ten minutes, the storm had stopped and Vida returned to her normal form, looking extremely haggard.

“Feel better?” Udonna asked as they reappeared in the clearing.

“Surprisingly, yes,” Vida grinned, smoothing her hair out of her face.  “Now I’m just exhausted.”

Udonna smiled and wrapped an arm around Vida’s waist.  “Then let’s head back, and you can rest until the others arrive for your training session.”

\--

Nick smiled as he kicked off his shoes and tossed his coat on his desk chair.  His dad had said a surprise was waiting in his room, so he’d hurried up.  He’d been particularly happy to find his girlfriend deeply sleeping in his bed.  Quietly, he padded over to his bed and crawled under the covers with her.  “Hi,” she murmured, snuggling close to him.

“I thought you were sleeping,” he softly teased.

“I was until the room got warmer.”

Nick chuckled.  One side effect of his training Fireheart was the excess amount of heat he put off thanks to his powers.  “Sorry.”

“It’s okay,” she yawned.  “Is Vida back yet?”

“Yeah.  She’s sleeping in Clare’s room.  Xander and Chip are heading up to check on her now.”

“Dad made Mom go to the doctor today,” she told him, switching topics.  She knew her sister was in good hands with their two best friends.

“Good,” he yawned, closing his eyes and starting to slip into sleep.

Sensing his intent, Maddy let her worry go, and focused on the wonderful sensation of butterflies she felt in her stomach as he held her.  It happened every time he held her, and she prayed there was never a day in the future where she didn’t feel this way with him.

\--

Vida stared at the ceiling in Clare’s room and smiled.  The sorceress had enchanted the space above her bed so that shooting stars, planets, moons, and various other cosmic things floated about, rotated, etc.  It was serene and helped calm Vida a bit more.

She’d been tired when Udonna had brought her up, but now, a half hour later, she was wide awake.  The soft knocking on the door caught her by surprise.  Without missing a beat though, she called out, “Come in!”

“V, you awake?” Chip asked as he and Xander stuck their heads in.

“Come in,” she yawned.

The two boys came in, with Chip leaving the door open enough for them to hear if someone was coming.  “Udonna said she wore you out,” Chip teased as the two sat down on opposite sides of the bed Vida was lying in.

“Yeah,” Vida answered.  “I’ve never been that scared before, not even when we were facing the Darkness.”

“That’s because what we faced, we did so knowing we were putting ourselves in the line of fire, and we had control over the situation,” Xander told her, reaching out to wrap his arm around her shoulders.  He hid his surprise when she leaned against his shoulder.  “It’s different when it’s someone you love and you can’t do something about it.”

Chip nodded and carefully observed the two.  While he’d had a crush on Vida for years, it was only now that he saw where her feelings were.  She was falling for Xander and didn’t even realize it.  The former Yellow Ranger grinned knowingly, and then smiled wider when Clare came in the room carrying a tray of soup.  “Hungry Vida?” she asked.

“Thanks Clare,” Vida grinned at her, sitting up while the sorceress put the tray on her lap.

“Udonna asked that once you’re done, if you three would come downstairs.  She says Daggeron’s on his way back.”

“Will do,” Xander answered.

“I’ll come with you now; someone’s got to get Maddy and Nick up, or those two will sleep the afternoon away,” Chip told Clare, who grinned and nodded.

Vida shook her head and ate her soup while Xander sat next to her.  “He gets stranger and stranger as time goes on,” the former Green Ranger muttered.

“That’s Chip for ya,” Vida laughed.  “Besides, his strangeness got us through some really rough spots.”

Xander nodded.  “Yes, yes it did.  So, how are you feeling, really?”

The former Pink Ranger looked up at him, her dark eyes pools of worry and fear.  “I hate to admit it, but I’m scared.  Dad said we’re having a family meeting tonight to discuss what happened once he knows what the doctor said.”

“Then try not to worry until you know something’s wrong.  It could just be a one time thing,” he tried to reassure her.

“Or it could be something serious,” she argued.

“V, don’t invite trouble.  Just try to relax,” he whispered, reaching out to take her hand.  She looked up at him and could only sigh and nod.

\--

“Welcome home,” Udonna greet when Daggeron walked into Rootcore.  The Rangers were all gathered around the crystal, studying spells with Lianbow and Clare.

“It’s nice to be home,” Daggeron smiled, and then frowned.  He didn’t want to talk about Elektra with the Rangers present, not until he’d had time to speak first with Udonna and Lianbow and figure out how to tell the five teenagers.

“They found out while you were gone,” Lianbow told him quietly.  “You need to lean a little, and they’re anxious to help.”

“Daggeron,” Maddy smiled at him as she moved from her spot next to Nick and Vida.  “Let us help, please?”

The Solaris Knight smiled and enfolded Maddy in a hug when the former Blue Ranger leaned against his shoulder.  “Alright,” he whispered.

“Tell us what you found out, but first, what was she like?” Vida started.

Daggeron sighed and moved to stand beside the table while Maddy sat down next to Nick and Vida again.  Udonna took her place next to Lianbow, the two wrapping their arms around each other’s waists.  Clare stood next to Chip and Jenji, while Vida, Xander, Madison and Nick all scooted closer together to listen to their mentor speak of his missing wife.

“Elektra was my life, even more so than being a knight,” he smiled, his eyes glazing slightly as he was thrust back into his past.  “We knew each other as children.  Her father and Lianbow’s were distant cousins.”

The Rangers remained quiet, watching the emotions play across Daggeron’s face.  “It was never one of those ‘instantly in love with each other’ kind of things, because Elektra was friends with Niella and Udonna and their parents made them avoid us boys at all costs, until Udonna started falling in love with Lianbow and he started training Calindor and I.”

“Then how did you fall in love?” Clare softly asked.

Daggeron smiled.  “Elektra wasn’t like your mother, Clare, or like Udonna.  She wasn’t a hereditary witch, and she had no aptitude for spells and incantations.  She was a fighter, quite literally.  She fought well enough that she bested both Calindor and I, and nearly bested Lianbow in hand to hand and swords.”

“Sorta like Nick did with you in bound combat?” Chip teased.

“Yes,” Daggeron told him, grinning.  “We also discovered she was a natural born healer.”

“How?”  This time it was Nick asking.

“Calindor and I were just starting to learn how to use our Ancient Mystic powers and ended up hurting each other pretty badly.  Elektra happened to be coming to seek out Lianbow and came upon the fight just as Calindor sent me flying into a tree.”

Lianbow stepped in then.  “We thought we were going to lose him.  We were out in the forest, far away from any healers, and neither Udonna nor Niella were with us.”

The Rangers winced.  “Oh, that’s not good,” Xander uttered.

“No, it wasn’t.  I wasn’t proficient enough in healing spells, not like either of the girls, and Calindor had no real magical talents other than his Ancient Mystic powers,” Lianbow explained.

“But as luck would have it, Elektra was there to save me,” Daggeron told them.  “She had her hands on my chest, and she was pretty frantic about trying to keep me awake.  The next thing we knew, she was glowing silver and my body was mending.”  Daggeron turned and strode away from the table to face the wall, trying to reign in his emotions.  “For a week afterward, she came by to see me, to make sure I was healing properly.  Somewhere in the course of that week, I fell in love with her.”

“Little did he know she’d been in love with him for years before that,” Udonna announced, smiling at him.  “All she ever use to talk about was Daggeron this and Daggeron that.  I thought for sure at one point her father was going to send her away.  Instead, he let her marry Daggeron.”

The Rangers smiled and chuckled as Daggeron blushed.  “Yes, he did.  I courted her for nearly two years.  We were married shortly after Udonna and Lianbow had married and we found out Udonna was carrying you, Nick.”  Nick blushed while Chip and Xander teased him.  “You were about four or so months old when the final battle began.  The information I’ve found out on my trip…” he paused, swallowing.  “Apparently while I was trying to find a safe haven for you, and your parents and the Mystics were fighting off the Master and his forces, Elektra was busy gathering a secondary group of warriors when they stumbled on Calindor, who as you know turned traitor and became Imperious.”

“What happened?” Maddy’s soft question broke the silence that had followed.

“No one else was skilled enough, or strong enough, to fight him, so Elektra took him on, by herself.  According to most people, she was injured in the fight and took refuge somewhere, but they don’t know where.”

Udonna’s face looked pale and alarmed.  “Daggeron, what aren’t you telling us?”

The Solaris Knight looked up at his wife’s best friend and struggled for control.  “Elektra was pregnant when the final battle began.”

The White Ranger’s face crumpled into one of extreme grief.  “I knew she’d suspected, I didn’t know she’d found out.”

“She went to speak with the midwife known as the Purple Witch.  She’s the woman I spoke with.  Do you two remember the prophecy surrounding The Light, the one we never deciphered?” Daggeron asked Lianbow and Udonna, who nodded.

“Of course, why?”

“The Bright Light Water Sprite was to give life to the Wind and the Ocean, two of the warriors who were to fight beside The Light.”

“Elektra Nixie,” Udonna gasped.

“Huh?” Chip butted in.  “What do you mean?”

“Elektra Nixie is her full name, it means bright light water sprite,” Lianbow explained, his arm tightening around Udonna.

Maddy’s mouth dropped open as the Rangers turned back to face Daggeron.  “And you said she was pregnant when she disappeared?”

Daggeron nodded.  “The Purple Witch said she was carrying my children.”

“Twins?” Vida gasped.

Clare stood next to Jenji who had remained silent through the whole explanation.  “Jenji, what’s wrong?” she asked him softly.

“I had a thought, but it’s nothing,” Jenji told her.  “It’s not like it could be possible.”

The young sorceress stared at him, filing the comment away for later examination.

“Yes, twins,” Daggeron breathed.  “No one knows what happened to her, or them.  Many say she died, others said she disappeared to parts unknown.”

Nick stood up from his chair and moved to stand with Daggeron.  “You helped me find my family, and my destiny.  I’m going to help you find yours.  We’ve already started looking in the human realm; if she’s there, we’ll find her.”

Daggeron smiled sadly when the other four younger Rangers came and stood with Nick, presenting a united front to the seasoned warrior.  “Thank you,” he spoke, emotion causing his voice to come out in a near whisper.

\--

Ella sighed and sat on the examine table waiting for the doctor to come in and talk with her.  Knowing it was going to take a while, she leaned back and closed her eyes, hoping to catch a few moments of rest.

_“What’s your name?” a young man with jet black hair and piercing brown eyes asked._

_She cringed away from him.  “Go away!  You can’t have my babies!”_

_He looked at her and smiled.  “I’m not going to take your babies.  I’m a volunteer here at the hospital.  I’m Alex, what’s your name?”_

_She began to cry harder then, her body shaking with powerful tremors.  “I don’t know my name.”_

_Alex’s face softened.  “It’s okay.  I’ll help you find it.”_

Letting out a deep breath, Ella blinked back tears.  Alex had come to see her every day after that.  When he’d first met Vida and Maddy, she’d watched him fall in life right before her eyes.  She’d known he loved her girls long before she’d known he loved her.

In the nearly nineteen years since, Alex had helped her adjust to never knowing her past and not knowing who the biological father of her children was.  She knew Alex had had moments over the years where he remembered the girls weren’t biologically his, but they had been far and few between.  She loved him all the more for never having treated the girls different than their younger siblings.  Her daughters had grown up never knowing their father wasn’t really their father.

“Mrs. Rocca.”

Ella turned her attention to her doctor.  “Doctor Evans.”

“How are you feeling, Ella?”

“I feel fine; Alex insisted I come.”

Dr. Evans gave her a look.  “I talked to him this morning.  He said he thinks your memories are starting to come back.  What do you think?”

Ella laughed.  “I’m getting old; I’ve got five kids and a household to run on top of a stressful job?”

“How about we run some routine tests, rule out everything we can and go from there?”

“You’re the doctor.”

\--

Maddy kept eyeing Vida as they helped A.J. set the table for dinner.  Vida’s face was perfectly composed.  Neither of them wanted to worry their siblings, but they knew A.J. knew something was wrong.  “Is Mom okay?” he asked.

“Why do you ask?” Maddy responded, setting the glasses on the table before filling them with water.

“She passed out in the hallway last night, I’m not stupid.”

Vida gave him a look and nudged him so he’d keep placing the silverware and napkins down.  “We never said you were, Squirt.  As far as we know, she’s fine.  Dad made her go to the doctor this morning.”

“You don’t think she’s pregnant again, do you?” he asked.  Maddy and Vida looked at each other, having realized they hadn’t thought of that.

“Who knows?”

A.J. nodded.  “I guess that means we’re having a family meeting tonight, huh?”

Maddy smiled and slid her arm around him.  “Yep.  Come on, time to wash up.”

\--

The Rocca family dinner table was deathly silent for the first time in a long time.  Alex, Vida and Maddy ate quietly while Ella picked at her food.  A.J., Celeste and Bobby were quiet as well, but fidgety.

“Are you going to tell us what’s wrong?” A.J. finally spoke up, directing his question to his mother.

Maddy’s eyes widened, Vida smiled, and their father shot him a stern look.  “Celeste, Bobby, are you done?” Ella asked the two younger children.

“Yes Mommy,” Bobby grinned.

“Yes,” Celeste whispered.

“Then take your plates into the kitchen and you may go watch television until it’s time for your baths.”

The two scampered from the table, leaving their older siblings staring at their parents in worry.  “Mom?” Vida ventured.

“I want to discuss this with you three first, because you’re old enough to understand,” Ella started, setting her fork on the table and looking up at her children.  The three Rocca siblings tensed, wondering what horrible thing could be wrong with their mother.  “The doctor said physically nothing is wrong with me,” she explained to them, watching them sigh in relief. 

Alex nodded so she continued.  “Dad and I have been keeping something from you, that until now, has never been an issue.”

The three of them tensed again.  “You’re pregnant?” Maddy asked.

Ella laughed.  “No.  The doctor thinks my memories are coming back.”

“Memories?” A.J. murmured.

“When I was a little older than Vida and Maddy, I woke up in the hospital with no memory of who I was or of my life before that moment.”

The three teenagers stared at her in shock.  “What?” Vida gasped.

“I was in the hospital, looking like I’d been beaten up, and I was pregnant but I had no idea who I was or where I came from.  I delivered you and Maddy a week after I woke up.”

Forks hit plates and Maddy and Vida stared at their mother in horror.  “How?” Maddy uttered.

Alex reached out to his daughter and took her hand.  “Let her finish.”

“I met your dad a couple of weeks later.  He was a volunteer as part of his community service for his fraternity.”

“You mean Dad’s not our real father?” Vida almost hollered as the storm of emotion began to rage inside of her.

Ella blinked back the tears.  “For all intense purposes, he’s your father.  Biologically, I don’t remember who the man who helped conceive you is.  I’ve never gotten my memories back, and we never found a missing person report that matched my description.”

Vida silently pushed away from the table and ran while Maddy stared at her plate.  “I always knew you two were weird, now I have confirmation,” A.J. muttered.

Maddy just looked at her brother in hurt and contempt while their mother cried and their father glared at him.  “Alexander James, this is hard enough without your smart comments.  Finish your dinner then go to your room.”

A.J. swallowed and nodded.  “Yes sir.”

“Maddy?” Alex started.

“I’ll go look for her,” Maddy murmured, getting up from the table and rushing out after her sister.

\--

Xander sighed heavily as he trudged through the forest.  Vida hadn’t been at any of her regular haunts, and the others had headed back to Rootcore to talk to Udonna about finding her.  Xander had a pretty good idea about where to find her; he was sure he’d find the wayward Rocca sister with Phineas.  All five of them seemed to find their way to their Troblin friend over the last year whenever they found themselves in need of advice.

Phineas’ voice could be heard along the trail, but no one responded to his comments.  When Xander got to the Troblin’s camp, he saw Phineas kneeling before Vida, who had her arms wrapped around her legs, which were pulled to her chest, and her chin was resting on her knees, her eyes closed.  “Cheer up, Vida.  It’s not that bad,” Phineas told her.

“Everything they’ve told me about my family is a lie.  It can’t get much worse.”  The Troblin noticed Xander and patted Vida’s shoulder before moving away from her.  “Go away Xander.  I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Then we won’t talk about it,” Xander told her.  “You’ve got Maddy scared out of her mind though.”

Vida’s hurt filled eyes opened and rose to meet his calm ones.  “They lied to us; he’s not our father.”

“No, biologically, he’s not, but he’s your dad.  He’s the one that was at all the doctor’s appointments, the recitals, the parent-teacher conferences.  He’s the one who taught you to ride a bike, to climb a tree, to shoot hoops.  He was there for your first words, your first steps.  He kissed your skinned knees and soothed your first broken heart.  He’s been there, V, don’t hold a little thing like biology against him.”

“I want to know who my real father is, Xander.  It feels like a piece of me is missing now.”

“I know, but I want you to think about this long and hard,” he spoke slowly, making sure she was paying close attention to him.  “You need to weigh finding your father with the effects it’s going to have on your family, not just you.”

Vida nodded.  “I know.”

Xander reached out a hand to her and smiled when she took it.  “Come on, Maddy’s worried and Nick’s going to have your head if she keeps crying the way she was when I broke off from the group.”

Sighing, Vida let him lead her back along the trail to Rootcore and her sister.


	4. Chapter 3: Turn For The Worst

**Chapter 3:** Turn For The Worst  
 **By:** Pink-Green-White-4ever  
 **Last Revised:** April 1, 2007

**Summary:** Now that the battle with the Master is over, Daggeron must find his missing family.  But what if they were right under his nose the entire time?  Shocking revelations come that could split the Mystic Force forever.  
 **Rated:** T for now  
 **Ships:** NM, VX, CC, UL, DOC

**Disclaimer:** I don’t own them, I wish I did.

**Dedication:** For all the Maddick and Vander fans out there!  Thanks for the support!

**AN:** Yeah, so, from the title of the chapter, you can see that bad stuff’s going to happen here.  Also, Chapter 4 is finished, but the chapter has an adults only version that I need to edit for all you younger readers for on fanfiction.net, so it’ll take me a little while longer to get that out.  Thanks for being patient.

\--

“It’s been nearly a week,” Nick started as the five cleared up the store in their nightly routine.

“You think this is bad?” Maddy almost snapped, her voice cracking at the end.  “Try living with her.  She hasn’t said more than one word answers to Mom or Dad since they told us.”

The four looked over to the D.J. Station where Vida was putting away the records she’d used that night.  “I can’t even get her to laugh, which is a first,” Chip muttered.

“Has Daggeron had any more luck looking for Elektra?” Xander asked Nick, trying to change the subject.

The former Red Ranger shook his head.  “I don’t think so.  Mom and Dad have been closed up in the library with him every free moment, trying every spell they can think of to find her.”

The other three shook their heads.  “Have you had any luck finding your birth father?” Xander quietly asked Maddy, who was cashing out the register.

“You’d have to ask Vida,” Maddy responded, almost angrily.  “I’m playing peace keeper; trying to help her but also keep things normal with our parents.”

Chip smiled, Xander nodded, and Nick rubbed a hand down her back in a show of support and affection.  “Are we ready?” Vida asked when she approached.

“Xander’s got to balance the register with Toby, and then we’re good,” Nick told her.

“You guys go ahead, I can handle everything,” Toby assured them, poking his head out of the office.

“Anybody hungry?” Chip asked as they made their way outside.

“Maddy and I have a date,” Nick smiled, making Maddy blush and nod.

“What about you guys?” Chip asked Vida and Xander.

“V’s dragging me to the library to do more research,” Xander smiled.

Vida glared at him.  “If you don’t want to go then just say so,” she growled.

Xander shot her a smile.  “And deny you my sparkling presence?”

“I can do it on my own!” she hissed.

Maddy sighed and moved toward Nick’s bike, grabbing the extra helmet off it.  “See you guys later,” Nick spoke, joining his girlfriend before they rode off.

“I guess I’ll grab a pizza and go hang out with Clare,” Chip shrugged.  “By the way, V, your attitude sucks, and you’re hurting Maddy’s feelings.”  That said, Chip turned and headed down the street to the pizzeria.

Vida looked sad as chip walked away.  Xander noticed she’d gotten quiet and moved toward her.  “V?”

“They just don’t get it,” she muttered.

Xander’s face was serious and thoughtful.  “Maybe if you talked about it instead of tearing into everyone.”

Vida shook her head.  “I don’t get why I’m so obsessed with finding him.  It’s not as if he’s looked for us, or he’d have found us by now.”

\--

2 Days Later

“I don’t understand,” Clare told Udonna as the two roamed the library for a list of books Udonna needed.

“What’s that, Child?” Udonna asked, stopping to pour over the book she had.

“Why hasn’t Elektra come to look for Daggeron?  Surely she’d know about the Rangers defeating the Master by now.”

Udonna’s face was grim.  “I have a feeling she may have blocked the final battle from her mind all those years ago, so she may not remember it, or she may think Daggeron’s dead.”

Clare’s face was sad.  “Between Daggeron searching for his wife and children, and Vida look for her and Maddy’s father, it’s a wonder we’re all still sane,” Clare uttered, causing Udonna’s head to snap up.  “Oh well, time to go feed Fireheart.”

Udonna stared at Clare’s retreating back.  The theory swirling in her head and the possibilities and implications it posed almost made her dismiss it as wishful thinking, but Madison and Vida’s information about their missing father was too hard to argue with, especially when she placed the information Daggeron had given her with it.

“Hi Udonna,” Madison greeted as she and Nick came in, carrying the picnic basket they’d borrowed.

“Mom, are you alright?” Nick asked, seeing her pale face and worried expression.

“Madison, do you think your mother is up for a visitor?”

The former Blue Ranger looked startled.  “Probably.  Why?”

Udonna smiled.  “Call it a haunch.”

\--

Vida and Xander quietly entered the Rocca household and headed for Vida’s room.  They were almost to the stairs when they heard a crash in the kitchen.  The pair rushed in and found Ella laying on the floor, dishes broken around her while glasses and silverware floated in the air above her head.

“What the hell!” Vida gasped.

“V, are you doing that?  Because I know I’m not,” Xander responded.

“It’s not me!” Vida hissed at him.

“Okay, then since when has your mum been able to do magic?”

Vida shook her head.  “Not a clue,” she muttered, moving forward to kneel next to her mother.  “Mom?”

“Must warn him,” Ella whispered.  Her eyes were staring straight ahead, unseeing.

“Mom,” Vida spoke louder, shaking her.

“NO!  DANGER AHEAD!” Ella yelled.  “Must warn him!” she cried out, thrashing.

“Mrs. Rocca?” Xander  asked, moving to kneel on her other side.

“Be gone vile creature!  Harm my love not!” Ella screamed, thrusting her hands up.  A blast of silver energy bursting from her palm, which threw Vida and Xander back away from her.

“Mom!” Vida all but screamed.

“Vida!” Maddy’s voice frantically called, followed by the sound of rushing footsteps.

“Kitchen!” Xander hollered back.  He and Vida struggled to sit up, watching in horror as Ella’s body began to lift on its own, a column of silver, black and purple light surrounding her.

“Holy crap!”

Maddy choked back a scream and Udonna grabbed her hand.  “Nick, keep Madison back!  Xander!  Grab Vida!” Udonna ordered.

Xander did as told and pulled Vida back toward Nick and Maddy once he got to his feet.  Udonna surged forward and held out her hand.  Sparks of white shot out, surrounding Ella in a column of ice.

“Mom!” Maddy and Vida cried out together, struggling against the boys’ hold on them.

Seconds later, they were all gasping when the ice shattered and Ella was revealed, her body clothed in a silver, black and deep purple gown.  The former Rangers gasped again and Udonna smiled sadly.  “Elektra.”

Maddy and Vida’s heads snapped up while Nick and Xander held them, looking shocked as hell at the named Udonna had spoken.

\--

Alex Rocca sped home as fast as he could after Nick had called him saying Ella had had another episode.  He was surprised when he entered the house and found A.J., Celeste, Bobby, Nick, Xander and Chip sitting and two unfamiliar men pacing near the stairs.

“Dad!” A.J. called out happily.

“Mr. Rocca,” Nick started.

“Who are they?” he asked, pointing to the two men.

Nick bit his lip before sighing.  “My father, Lianbow, and Daggeron, our mentor,” Nick said, gesturing to himself, Xander and Chip.

“Where’s Ella?”

“Maddy, Vida and my mom took her upstairs.”

Alex calmed a little but was still worried.  “Are you three alright?” he asked his children.

“We’re fine.  Nick, Xander and Chip have been showing us magic tricks,” A.J. explained.

Alex nodded and turned for the stairs, only to be stopped by Lianbow.  “Udonna said for all of us to stay here, until she knows what’s going on.”

“Is your wife a doctor?” Alex barked.

Lianbow shoo his head.  “No, she’s a sorceress.”

“What?”

Nick moved to them.  “Mr. Rocca, you might want to sit down.  We have a lot to tell you.”

“I want to see my wife!”

“Mr. R, please,” Chip pleaded.

Alex finally relented. Nodding as he moved to sit on the couch with his children.  “Well?”

“It all started with that big earthquake last year,” Xander started.  Two hours later, the boys finished their extraordinary story.  “And now, we’re still training with Lianbow and Daggeron, but we’re not active Rangers.”

Alex looked like he was skeptical of it all.  A.J., Celeste, and Bobby readily accepted the story.  “Nice fairytale, boys,” he muttered.  “Try again.”

The five Mystics shared a look before Nick nodded.  “MAGICAL SOURCE, MYSTIC FORCE!”

Alex’s eyes widened when three Mystic Rangers, the Red Wolf Knight and Solaris Knight appeared where the five men had been.  “COOL!” A.J. and Bobby laughed.

“Maddy and V can do that too?” Celeste softly asked, getting up to tug on Nick’s cape.

“Yep,” Nick told her, popping his helmet off.  “Maddy’s blue and Vida’s pink.”

“And your mom is white, right?” A.J. asked, remembering there had been a White Ranger in the final battle that had been broadcast on the news.  Nick nodded.

“What’s going on down here?” a new voice broke in.  Everyone turned to see Udonna, Maddy and Vida standing at the base of the stairs.

“We told your dad,” Nick told the girls.  “How’s your mom?”

Maddy smiled and wrapped her arms around Celeste, who’d rushed over to her.  “Sleeping.  Udonna gave her something for the aches and pains.”

“What happened?” Alex demanded.  Xander and Nick had told him what happened, but he wanted to hear it from the girls.

“Her memories have broken through the mental block she erected around them,” Udonna told him.  “Something triggered her powers.  Your kitchen may need remodeling, but she’s fine.”

“So it’s true?” Daggeron all but barked.  Lianbow and Chip moved to hold him back.

Udonna’s face turned pale as she turned to him.  “Yes.”

“What are you talking about?” Alex demanded.

“Ella’s real name is Elektra Nixie, and she’s Daggeron’s long lost wife,” Udonna explained.

“What?”

Vida stepped forward then.  “Daggeron is my and Maddy’s biological father.

\--

_“Are you happy?” Daggeron asked softly.  He and his new bride lay in bed, cuddled close after a night’s worth of loving._

_“Never have I been happier than right now,” she sighed softly._

_“Enjoy it now, tomorrow we must begin training.”_

_She blew out a heavy breath.  “I’m scared.  Scared to lose all of you, especially now.”_

_“I know, I am as well, but we have the power of the Mystic Warriors on our side.”_

_“The Darkness will not know what arsenal we have until it is too late,” she smiled._

_Daggeron grinned down at her, sliding a hand up her side to cup her breast.  “Let me love you?”_

_“Always.”_

\--

Ella could hear voices downstairs.  Alex’s angry voice reached her first, followed by a sorely missed one – Daggeron’s.  “Oh my love,” she whispered, her heart breaking.  She clenched her eyes shut when she heard Vida and Maddy’s strained voices.  “All this time, he’s been watching out for our girls, training them to hone their magic.”

“Mom?”

Ella looked to the door.  “A.J.”

“Feeling better?” he asked, inching into the room but staying near the door.

“Yes Baby.”

“Are you really Elektra?  Are you really Daggeron’s wife?  Is he really Maddy and Vida’s dad?”

Ella gave him a look.  “Alexander James...”

“I’m just curious, Mom.”

“No matter what, they are still your sisters.”

“I know.  Will I be able to do magic like they do?”

Ella’s face took on a sad look.  “I don’t honestly know.  As Elektra, my magical ability was limited to healing people.  Maddy and Vida can do magic because they’re Power Rangers, and because of whom their father is.”

A.J. nodded.  “Wanna come downstairs?”

“If you’ll help me, I’d like that.”

It was slow going, but Ella and A.J. made it downstairs in about five minutes.  The scene before them was shocking – Daggeron was on one side of the room with Lianbow talking to him in a low voice while Alex was on the other side with Udonna.  Nick, Chip and Xander were standing near the fireplace while Madison and Vida were on the couch with Celeste and Bobby.

“I don’t care!  She’s my wife!” Alex yelled.

“That is enough!” Ella’s voice stopped all movement.  “Alexander Rocca, don’t you dare raise your voice again to guests in our home.”

“Ella,” Alex began to argue.

“A.J., Celeste, and Bobby, is all your homework down?”

“Yes Mom.”

“Then the three of you go outside and play until we get this straightened out.”  The three nodded and headed out the front door.  Maddy and Vida made room on the couch for their mother to sit down, to which Ella was grateful.  She sat down and let out a breath when both her girls leaned against her shoulders.

“Would you like us to leave?” Lianbow softly asked.

“No, Cousin,” Ella murmured, reaching a hand out to him.  She smiled when he came over and took it, before kneeling in front of her.  “You look well.”

Lianbow smiled.  “He buried me under the guise of Koragg for Twenty years.  Its taken a few months to get back to looking well, so I’ll take that as a compliment.”

Ella nodded.  “I remember seeing Koragg on the television, fighting the Mystic Rangers.  I’m sure it was nice for everyone when you returned home.”

“It was, only for me, it was a shock – my son was grown and I’d hurt him and my beloved beyond comprehension.  It’s been a struggle to get use to being a parent and a spouse again.”

Ella closed her eyes and leaned her forehead against his and soaking in the feeling of kinship she felt when she thought of him.  In a carefully measured voice, she told him, “He will need your understanding and experience in the days to come.”

Lianbow squeezed her hand.  “Welcome back, Cousin,” he told her softly, smiling.

Ella pulled back and smiled at him before turning her attention to Udonna.  “White Witch,” she teased, causing Udonna to smirk at her.

“You always loved to make a grand entrance.”

Ella nodded and then sobered.  “Niella?”

Udonna’s face crumbled, pain replacing the teasing nature that had been previously there.  “She’s gone,” she whispered.

“How?” Ella croaked out.

“Closing the gate killed her.  Clare has taken her rightful place as the Gatekeeper, and Mystic Mother has made her a full fledged sorceress.  You should see her, ma petite; she’s so much like Niella that it’s scary.”

Ella’s gray-black eyes were filled with pain and regret for words that would be left unsaid.  “So much has changed.  Why did I block my life out?” she murmured, pain lacing her voice.

“Because it was a time of war and you were injured,” Daggeron finally spoke up.

“Calindor betrayed…”

“We know,” Maddy started.  “He and Daggeron faced each other; he’s gone now.”

Ella’s eyes moved from her daughter to take in Daggeron, who stood with his hands behind his back and his legs braced.  “What happened?  I couldn’t find you, any of you?”

“He found me as I tried to hide Bowen.  We battled.  He was crazed, not himself.”

“I know,” Ella murmured, remembering how he’d been when she’d been fighting against him.  “Power that evil corrupts.”

“It does.  Our magics clashed and enchanted us.  He was turned into a mummy, and I a frog.”

Ella laughed at that.  “How’d you get free?” she asked, grinning wider when she saw the way Daggeron was smiling at her.  Madison, Vida, Chip, Xander and Nick burst out laughing at her question.  “What’s so funny guys?”

Vida tugged on her mom’s hand, which made Ella turn in her direction.  “Remember that fairytale you use to read to me and Maddy, the one about how we’d have to kiss a frog to find out prince charming?”

“Vaguely,” Ella replied, starting to see where this was heading.

“I kissed the frog,” Maddy laughed.  “Only, instead of getting a prince, I got a knight.”

Ella’s eyes darted back and forth between her daughter and Daggeron to see if they were serious.  When she saw Daggeron nod, she brought a hand to her mouth.  “Oh my.”

“I overcame my fear of frogs when he saved me during a battle.  Next thing I know, I’m still unmorphed, only instead of staring at this slimy little frog who had saved me, I was staring up at this very tall man in weird clothes.”  Maddy grinned over at Daggeron, who shot her a look for the joke about his clothes before he blushed. 

Ella let out another laugh.  “Oh goodness,” she gasped.  “What I would have given to see that.”

“It was pretty funny,” Nick teased Maddy, leaning over the couch to kiss her cheek affectionately.

“Yeah, only after you stopped freaking out about Maddy being in the line of fire,” Xander teased.  “And now Chip and I can tease you, cause you got jealous of nothing…..Maddy was just kissing her dad!”

Nick scowled while the others chuckled, all except for Alex who sort of just stood there glaring.  Ella looked over her shoulder at Nick and grinned.  “So, Baby Bowen huh?” she teased.

Nick blushed.  “Yes Ma’am.”

Ella shook her head.  “So, obviously, you five took up the Mystics’ positions.  What are your designations?”

Nick smiled.  “Forceful as fire, Red Phoenix.”

“Fast as lightning, Yellow Garuda,” Chip announced.

“Strong as a tree, Green Minotaur,” Xander proudly told her.

Maddy shyly smiled.  “Fluid as the sea, Blue Mermaid.”

“Ever-changing as the wind, Pink Sprite,” Vida laughed.

Ella looked at each of them and was taken a back by how much they reminded her of the original Mystics, one of whom was standing in the room near the window grinning at her as he held his wife.  For a second, Ella’s eyes widened as she realized something.  ‘The Prophecy’ she thought, right before her eyes glazed over.

“I think it’s time to go,” Lianbow spoke up, the group realizing Ella was starting to look wary at the onslaught of information and memories.

Udonna moved to the back of the couch and touched Ella’s shoulders.  “We’ll come to visit soon,” she reassured her.

“And you’ve got to come see Rootcore!” Chip told her, bouncing in excitement.  “We’ve got a real dragon and everything!”

“The Fireheart?” Ella smiled when the others nodded in astonishment.  “I’ll hold you to that tour, Chip, and you introducing me to the last real dragon.”

While the kids were saying goodbye, Ella got up and moved with Alex to walk the others to the door.  “Thank you, Udonna,” Ella told her as the two embraced.

“Think nothing of it, ma petite,” Udonna smiled.  “Get some rest.”

Ella nodded and moved to hug Lianbow before turning to Daggeron.  There was so much tension and energy flowing between them that she wasn’t sure what to do.  “We need to talk, but nows not the time.”

Daggeron nodded and then brushed past her without a word.  Alex watched them before heading back inside.  “Goodnight boys!” Ella called as the trio of boys headed for Xander’s car. 

It took an hour, but A.J., Celeste and Bobby were finally put to bed, leaving Maddy, Vida, Ella and Alex in the living room to absorb the night’s events.  “Somebody say something,” Maddy started, her voice shaking with nervousness.  She could feel the tension in her parents, and her sister.

“I can’t believe its Daggeron,” Vida muttered in shock.  “All this time and he’s been right there with us, right under our noses.  No wonder your kiss freed him, Maddy, it’s cause you’re related.”

Alex stiffened at Vida’s words while Ella sat in a chair and tried to digest what had happened.  “I forbid you from seeing him, all three of you.”

Vida’s head snapped up while Maddy’s slowly came up.  Ella’s eyes opened as she took in her husband.  “Excuse me?” Vida snapped.

“You heard me, Vida.  For weeks, all his mere mention has done is disrupt this family.  You now have your answers, I don’t want to hear another word about him, nor do I want you seeing him, am I understood?”

“You can’t do that!” Vida argued.

“I am your father; I can do as I please.”

Ella and Maddy were too shocked to say anything.  “You’re only our father because our mother had amnesia for twenty years!” Vida hissed.

“The fact remains, you live under my roof and my name is on your birth certificate!” Alex roared angrily.

“Alex!” Ella finally found her voice.

“Be quiet Ella!  This is all your fault!”

“Don’t yell at my mother!” Vida hollered, her temper finally getting the better of her.  Without thinking, she jumped from her chair and whipped out her morpher, pointing it at Alex, her fingers hovering over the buttons.

“Vida!” Maddy gasped, jumping up.  “Vida, put your morpher away!  Remember what Udonna, Lianbow and Daggeron have taught us about magic – ‘And it harm none!’”

Vida was shaking with anger.  “Let me remedy the situation,” she hissed as Alex looked at her for the first time with real fear.  “I’ll be back for my things tomorrow, and when I have the money, you can bet your ass your name will no longer be on my birth certificate.”

“You can’t do that!” Alex argued.  “I’m your father!”

“No, Daggeron is my father, and just watch me do it.”

Ella and Maddy watched as Vida stormed from the house.  They heard her truck start up before she pealed away from the curb.  Maddy turned to Alex and watched him with disbelief across her features.  “I can’t believe you!  Xander tried for a week to get her to see that despite the fact that you weren’t our biological father, you were still our Dad.  How could you?  This isn’t anyone’s fault except for the Darkness’!  If Calindor hadn’t hurt Mom, she would have never ended up in the human realm, and you wouldn’t have your children, any of them!”

Alex hung his head when Maddy ran from the room, her sobs echoing down the stairs to his ears.  “Alex, how could you?” Ella tried to grasp his actions.

“I’m losing my girls,” he brokenly replied.

“That’s not my or Daggeron’s fault.  You just lost them on your own.  Your jealousy of them having found their natural father clouded your judgment.  Don’t you think they had enough love for you both?” Ella asked, standing from her seat.  “You’d better start thinking of a way to make this right with them.”  That said, Ella headed upstairs to check on Maddy.

Alex sunk down on one of the chairs, his head in his hands.  “What have I done?”


	5. Chapter 4: Safe Haven

**Chapter 4:** Safe Haven  
 **By:** Pink-Green-White-4ever  
 **Last Revised:** July 2, 2007

**Summary:** Now that the battle with the Master is over, Daggeron must find his missing family.  But what if they were right under his nose the entire time?  Shocking revelations come that could split the Mystic Force forever.  
 **Rated:** MA  
 **Ships:** NM, VX, CC, UL, DOC

**Disclaimer:** I don’t own them, I wish I did.

**Dedication:** For all the Maddick and Vander fans out there!  Thanks for the support!

**AN:** Okay, yeah, it’s been a long time since I updated this, but between other projects, the end of school, and my trip to LA for PMC, I haven’t had a whole lot of time to edit this chapter.  THIS CHAPTER IS RATED MA!  It’s the adult version.  If you have an aversion to sexual content, DO NOT READ THIS VERSION OF THIS CHAPTER.  You have been warned

\--

Nick was jolted out of bed when he heard the commotion drifting up from downstairs.  He quickly threw on a pair of sweats and a wife beater before heading downstairs.  When he entered the main room, he found Maddy being held by Daggeron as she sobbed loudly.

“Maddy!” Nick cried out, moving toward her.

Lianbow caught his son by the arm, shaking his head.  “Not now, Nick.”

“But Dad!”

Lianbow shook his head again.  “Go call Chip and Xander, Vida’s missing.”

Nick’s eyes widened.  “What?”

“She and Mr. Rocca had an argument.  Maddy says he forbid them from seeing or talking to or about Daggeron.”

The expression on Nick’s face said it all as he moved to the computer console to call his teammates.  Half an hour later, Chip was rushing in the door to help Clare track Vida’s morpher.  “Where’s Xander?” Daggeron asked.

“Looking for V; he thinks she might have ditched her morpher in her truck and taken off on foot.”  Chip was a little surprised to see his mentor cradling Maddy against him, but the former Yellow Ranger remembered what they’d learned that afternoon and suddenly it wasn’t so weird.

“Nick, will you care for Madison for me?  I’m going to go look for Vida,” Daggeron asked.

Nick nodded and moved over to where father and daughter stood holding onto one another.  Slowly, Daggeron transferred Maddy to her boyfriend’s arms.  Carefully, Nick picked her up princess style and left the room for his while Daggeron got ready to go.  “Daggeron?” Udonna called out to him.

“Have Chip let me know if you find her first, but I’m going to look for my daughter!” he called to her, rushing out.

\--

Vida let out a shaky breath as she solidified into her normal form.  She’d never used her powers as long nor pushed herself as hard as she had to get where she was.  Shaking her head, she tossed the bag she’d had in her truck on the ground next to a tree before she plopped down herself and leaned against it.  “Stupid!” she hissed to no one in particular.  “I actually believed Xander was right when he said no matter what Dad was still my dad!  What a fool!”

She blinked back the tears, not wanting to cry because she saw it as a weakness, but for the life of her, she couldn’t stop the river that had decided to spring from her eyes.  Curling into a ball with her head on her bag, she sat there and cried her heartache to the world around her.

\--

Maddy was only faintly aware of what was going on around her.  While she still felt the raging grief of not being able to find her sister, she also felt the warm, loving glow that she knew came from one place and once place only – Nick.  She struggled to open her eyes, only her lids felt like they were taped shut from the fatigue weighing on her body.  She stopped trying for a few moments and opened up her other senses.  She smelt the familiar smell of wood, aftershave, and candles and knew instantly that she was in Nick’s room.  She tried to move and felt two vices criss crossing her back, and knew that Nick held her to him.  She could hear the steady, comforting rhythm of the heart that beat under her ear, pumping his life’s blood through his veins while beating in a steady beat for her and her alone.

“Maddy?” he whispered into her hair, his lips caressing her forehead as she let her senses gather the information around her.  “Its okay, Maddy; Xander and your dad went to find V, and Chip and Clare are downstairs with Mom and Dad looking for her.  They’ll find her, I promise.”

“I’m so tired,” she managed to whisper.  “It’s been such a long year, filled with so many surprises, I just want to be normal for a while,” she almost cried.  “I know I’m not normal, not like I was just yesterday, or even this morning, but I want some normalcy.  I want to be able to go on a date with you, or hang out at the park, or spend time here at Rootcore and not have to worry about the next surprise that’s going to pop up and rock the foundation of everything again.”

She felt soothed when Nick’s gentle caress moved up and down her back.  “I know,” he spoke softly in her ear.  “I wish there was something I could do to make it better, but I don’t know what.”

“Nick?” she whimpered softly.

“Get some sleep, Maddy,” Nick told her in a calm voice, before leaning down and kissing her head.  Maddy snuggled close and let herself go, knowing she was more than safe.

\--

Xander took a deep breath and centered himself as he moved from his car to the edge of the Dark Forest.  Kneeling down, he laid his palms flat on the ground and slowly opened himself to the Earth.  He felt every tree, every flower, and every blade of grass as he dug down deep.  He wavered when he felt the onslaught of the Earth but soon was able to focus his search to just the forest around Briarwood and Rootcore.  When he felt Vida’s presence, he sighed in relief.

Carefully, he pulled his powers back and focused on Vida where he’d found her, which was quite a ways away near the mountain where they’d first found Fireheart.  Smiling, he headed for the nearest tree and went into it.  Seconds later, he was hopping out of the tree next to where Vida as curled into a ball, asleep.

“Oh V,” he murmured, kneeling down next to her.  He reached a hand out and gently brushed her bangs back from her face.  He smiled when she leaned into his touch.

“Xander,” she moaned in her sleep, surprising the former Green Ranger.  Xander stumbled back and sat down, staring at her in shock.

“Vida,” Xander’s voice came out a little harder than he’d hoped.

“Hmmm…” she pouted, waking from her sleep.  “Xander?” she asked, clearly confused on how he could be with her.  “What the hell?”

“I ought to kick your ass, Vida Rocca.  You literally scared the shit out of all of us, especially Madison and your dad.”

Vida glared as she sat up abruptly.  “Alex Rocca is NOT my dad.”

Xander shook his head in disbelief at her attitude.  “Did I say Mr. Rocca?  NO, I believe I said your dad.”

The former Pink Ranger stared at him.  “I’m sorry, but if you only knew…”

“Don’t apologize when you don’t mean it!” Xander snapped at her.  “We’d have known, I’d have known, if you would have come to talk about it instead of taking off.  Maddy was damn near hysterical when she got to Rootcore.”

“Maddy needs to toughen up,” Vida muttered.

“You know what, FORGET YOU!” Xander finally yelled, startling Vida’s head straight up.  “For weeks, you’ve been hell bent on what you wanted, what you thought you needed to do for you, and damn everyone else around you, especially your sister, just as long as you got your way.  Well guess what?  You aren’t the only one affected by this or your actions!” he screamed.

Vida stared at him, wondering where this Xander had come from.  Her friend was normally had a very calm disposition, unless someone threatened one of his friends.  “Xander…”

“Don’t Xander me!” he yelled again.  “You’re almost eighteen, and you’re a former Power Ranger, why don’t you start acting like one!  BE AN ADULT!”

The former Green Rangers’ nostrils flared and his chest heaved as he stared at her.  Her head was bent and her hands were clenched into fists in her lap.  Shaking his head, Xander turned to leave, thinking there was no way he was going to put up with her attitude or selfish nature a moment longer.

“Xander, please, don’t leave me,” she shakily called out to him.

It wasn’t so much the words as it was the way she said them.  He spun back around just in time to see Vida look up at him, her face crumpled in tears.  “Oh Vida,” he whispered, kneeling next to her.  He hadn’t seen her cry since Maddy had collapsed in ninth grade and had to be rushed to the hospital to have her appendix taken out.

She stared at him, eyes filled with tears and tried to speak, but nothing would come out but body wracking sobs.  Before they knew it, Xander was pulling her into his arms, cradling her against him as she let out her heartbreak.  He had known the dam was cracking, and would break, he just hadn’t expected it to take so long, nor so far away from home.

Xander didn’t know how long they sat there, but when he finally did look up, it was close to dawn.  “Well, maybe we should go home and catch some sleep, though I doubt we’re going to class tomorrow,” he whispered, then looked down at her.  Vida was snuggled into the crook of his shoulder, sound asleep.  Leaning over, Xander grabbed her bag and then centered himself.  “Vanishio!” he called out, sparks of green and pink flaring around him and Vida as they disappeared from the forest.

\--

Nick was aware of the chilling presence that had entered the room, followed by the familiar touch of his mother’s hand on his arm.  “Nick.”

“Hmm?” he asked, opening his eyes to stare up at a haggard looking Udonna.  “What?”

“Xander found her, she’s fine.  He’s taken her to his house for some sleep.”

Nick let out a breath and relaxed before looking down at Maddy’s sleeping form.  “I’ll let her know, have you called Daggeron?”

“I’m going downstairs to do that now, go back to sleep.  I’ve talked to Ella, she says Maddy can stay here and rest, since she’s not going to make them go to school.”

Nick nodded and cuddled close to his sleeping girlfriend while his mother hurried out of the room.  He reached up and gently moved her bangs from her face before leaning forward and pecking a kiss to her forehead.  “Maddy?”

A cute pout made its way onto her face as she began to wake, her soft body automatically stretching against Nick’s hard muscles.  Nick groaned in response, feeling his own body respond to hers.  He and Maddy had always been very careful to steer clear of situations that could end up with them going further than they intended, but for once, Nick’s vaunted self control was spread thin from worrying about the Rocca sisters, and he didn’t care that things could happen that could change their relationship.

“Hmmm?”

“Xander found Vida,” he told her, watching her eyes open and focus on his face.  “He took her back to his house, to sleep.  Your mom said you guys didn’t have to go to school today.”

When he saw the tears, Nick felt his heart start to break.  “Thank God,” she whispered, turning her face into his chest, her arms sliding around his waist.  When her body started to shake, he tightened his grip on her, knowing she needed to feel him, solid and real, to know that everything was okay now.

Unsure of what he could say to make it better, Nick carefully moved a hand up and down her back, hoping it soothed her.  Her face was somber when she looked up at him, tear stains on her face and her eyes bloodshot.  “Feel better?” he softly inquired, watching as she nodded and the beginnings of a smile began to turn the corners of her mouth up.

Neither of them realized what they were doing until their mouths were meeting in kisses far more passionate than they’d ever shared before.  These weren’t just tiny pecks; these were lush, wet, intense kisses that had them angling their heads and pressing their bodies close together.  Hands began to wander where previously they never would have dared.  It wasn’t until one of Nick’s strong, calloused hands cupped Maddy’s breast under her shirt and bra that reality set in.  “Maddy?” Nick’s voice croaked as he ripped his mouth from hers, staring down into the eyes he loved so much; the same eyes that were clouded with an unmistakable passion, not to mention an innocence that sometimes terrified Nick beyond belief.

Madison found herself at a crossroads that every girl in history had found herself at one time or another – to ease back from the edge or to take the plunge.  She bit her lip and stared up into Nick’s light eyes.  She saw the desire in them, the same that always danced on the edge of their time together.  She was innocent, but she was also no dummy.  She knew he wanted her; she’d started to recognize the signs as they got closer and closer.  She could feel the tension in his body as he pulled away from her to give her a little bit of space.  More importantly, she could feel his arousal, as it was, despite his best efforts, snug against her soft stomach.  His sweats didn’t hide much, and she was only dressed in a pair of pajama pants and a tank top, which also didn’t offer much in the way of a barrier between them.

“Nick,” she whispered, longing and a healthy dose of fear in her voice.

“I’m sorry, Maddy, I didn’t mean….” he rambled, only to have her silence him with a fingertip to his lips.

“Do you want this?  Do you want me?”  Her voice was low, and full of desire, and a little apprehension.

“Maddy, I….” he started.

“Yes or no, do you want to have sex with me?” she bluntly asked him.

Nick’s eyebrows shot up in surprise at her use of the word, especially since she was blushing.  Grinning, he leaned forward and kissed her forehead.  “No, Madison, I don’t want to have sex with you.”  He watched her face fall and felt her give a little push on his body, but he only pulled her closer, so that his arousal was pressed tighter against her.  “I want to make love to you, Maddy.” 

Madison sucked in a breath of relief and bit her lip again.  She reached out to touch his face, marveling that with that one simple sentence, she wasn’t the least bit terrified anymore of what was to come.  “Nick.”

Carefully, Nick rolled over on top of her, his arms supporting his body as he towered over her.  Her arms slid up his sides, along his back, and came to a rest on his biceps.  Her legs parted on instinct, her hips cradling his body against hers.  They both realized with a bit of shock how perfectly they fit together, even with all their clothes on.  “Maddy, this isn’t my…” he started, not sure how to tell her that this wasn’t his first time, but by far it was the most special.

“I know,” she responded, watching the worry spread onto his face.  She blushed and leaned up to whisper in his ear.  “I kinda overheard you telling Chip and Xander once.”

Nick let out a laugh and nudged her head back down on the pillow before he leaned down and kissed her soundly.  “I know this is your first time, I promise not to hurt you.”

“Nick, I’ve always known I was safe with you, heart, body and soul,” she murmured.  “Make love to me, please?”

Kisses were shared; soft ones, erotic ones, passionate ones, wet ones.  They kissed until Nick had the urge to move his lips to the column of her throat, where he latched onto the scented, delicate skin.  Instantly, his senses were filled with nothing but the lovely young woman laying under him, the same one who’d become his best friend, the one who’d fought alongside him to save his family and the world, but more importantly, she was the woman who had taken his heart hostage.  His tongue darted out to lightly caress her throat before moving down to her collar bone and the curve of her shoulder.

While Nick was kissing her shoulder, Maddy’s hands ran up and down his sides, griping every so often the muscles as a pleasurable rush hummed through her.  “Too many clothes,” Nick grumbled when his mouth encountered the edges of her tank top.

“Then help me get this off,” Maddy laughed, plucking at her shirt.  Nick backed off slightly, allowing Maddy to sit up, and he pulled her shirt up and off of her.  He sucked in a quick breath when she lay before him, a pretty turquoise blue bra contrasting against her light, smooth skin.  Maddy grinned up at him and tugged on the hem of his own shirt.  “Fair is fair,” she teased.

Nick chuckled and pulled his own tank up and off, tossing it on the floor.  His chuckle turned into a groan when Maddy’s hands reached out and splayed across the rippling muscles and skin of his abdomen, causing his erection to jump inside of his sweats.  “Maddy,” he groaned, watching her lick her lips as her hands explored the smooth, warm skin.

Looking up through her lashes, Maddy bit her lip and brought her hands up to her bra.  “Help me get this off?” she shyly asked.  Nick swallowed, hard, nodded, and then balanced himself on one hand while the other reached between her breasts for the fastener of her bra.  His mouth went dry as he popped the tiny plastic piece and the bra dropped away from her, leaving her bared to him.  He stared at her in awe.  Like he’d told her before, this was not his first time, but with her, it was so much more special, and he couldn’t quite put into words how much more special Maddy was compared to the others he was with before.  “Nick, say something,” she almost cried.  He’d gone deathly silent as he’d looked down at her, and it made her wonder if he was disappointed.

“God, Madison,” he whispered, a gentle smile sliding into place.  “You are absolutely perfect.”

Maddy let out a shaky breath and smiled up at him.  Knowing she needed to be reassured, he leaned down and softly kissed her, eliciting a moan from her when he pulled away and drew his lips down her cheek, her throat, across her shoulder, and finally got to her breasts.  The former Blue Ranger thought she’d be prepared for what it felt like to have a man touching her breasts the first time, but Nick’s touch and the feelings he set off inside of her blew what she’d dreamed of completely out of the water.  It was like fireworks exploding, first in her breast then her tummy and finally in her core.  She gasped out loud when Nick’s lips finally wrapped around one of her stiff nipples.  He carefully lathed her nipple before he gently bit down, making her cry out in shock.  Maddy’s hands slid into Nick’s hair, holding him to her while her hips arched against him, rubbing his arousal closer to her core.

“NICK!” she cried out, arching her back.  Nick smiled against her and moved to the other side of her chest, granting the other peak the same attention he’d paid to the first.  After a few moments of listening to Maddy’s soft gasps and cries, Nick finally felt the need to explore her more.

“Maddy?” he whispered, leaning up to kiss her between her panting.

“Hmm?”

“I want…”

She smiled a satisfied smile when she heard the desire that roughened his voice.  Nodding her agreement, she lifted her hips off the bed when Nick climbed off her and slid his fingers into the waistband of her sweats.  Quickly, Nick pulled her sweats and panties off, leaving her completely bare to his eyes.  “Holy shit,” he whispered then chuckled when Maddy blushed.

Reaching out, Maddy ran a finger across the waistband of his sweats, and looked up into his eyes to silently plead with him.  Grinning, Nick took her hands and laid them at his waist, telling her his intent.  Maddy slid to the end of his bed, sat up, and drew the dark red sweats off his hips.  Her eyes widened as she got a good look at his erection for the first time.  Without thinking, she reached out and ran a finger down the reddened flesh, stopping at the purple colored tip, where she found a wet substance already coating him.  She heard Nick gasp above her, and looked up to see if he was okay.  His eyes were closed, he was biting his lip and his hands were clenched at his sides.  Maddy wasn’t sure if he was mad or not.  “Nick?”

His eyes opened at her plaintive cry, seeing the worried look on her face.  Steeling himself, Nick reached out and took one of her soft hands and wrapped it around his erection.  “Its okay, Maddy,” he choked out.  “I was just sorta surprised.”

Biting her lip, Maddy intently set about exploring this new part of their relationship.  She’d taken all the sex education classes in school, but she’d never actually seen a real, live penis in front of her before.  She blushed even as she let the thought stream through her head.  “What’s so funny?” Nick asked, looking down at her.  She was grinning like a mad woman and he had a feeling he was the reason.

“I just realized that even when I say things in my head, they have a tendency to make me blush,” she murmured.

“Like?” he probed, trying to regain his breath as Maddy’s smooth hands stopped caressing him for a minute.

“I was just thinking, I’ve never actually seen a real….”

Nick laughed.  He knew what she was going to say, and he knew she was correct – she blushed just thinking it.  “It’s okay, really.”

“Are all guys this big?” she asked, her hands restarting their caressing motions.

“Uh, Maddy, guys don’t usually go around comparing…” he groaned, finally knowing if he didn’t stop her, he wouldn’t be able to hold back and make this special for her.

Maddy’s head looked up at him when his hands took hold of her wrist.  “Did I…do something wrong?” she asked.

“No,” he heaved a sigh of relief.  “But had you kept going, this would be over much sooner than I had hoped.”

The former Blue Ranger looked surprised by his comment.  “Nick?”

“Hmm?” he asked, reaching out to cup her cheeks.

“I’m ready.”

He grinned.  “Oh, I’m sure you are, but first, I’ve got something in mind.  Scoot up and lay your head back on my pillow.”

Giving him a look, Madison did as asked, crawling back up to lay on his bed again.  Once she was flat on her back, she was surprised to see Nick carefully easing her thighs apart, his hands coming up to caress the soft insides.  The muscles in her legs tensed, as well as the muscles in her belly, as his lips soon began following the path he’d mapped with his hands.  Something inside of her began tensing when Nick looked up at her over her stomach, his mouth now tantalizingly close to the juncture of her legs.

Everything exploded at once when Maddy felt what she knew was his tongue dart out and lightly caress her most private part.  “NICK!” she cried out, shocked that he’d use his mouth on her there.  All thoughts of everything but what he was doing and what she was feeling were suddenly gone.  Her entire focus tightened down to one single fact – she could feel the muscles inside of her core tightening in response to his administrations.

Nick just grinned against her, his tongue caressing the fleshy lips and soft folds of her womanhood.  Maddy’s body bucked and withered and she made all sorts of interesting sounds he’d only ever imagined she’d make.  Carefully, he brought a hand up and pulled his mouth away from her, gently introducing one finger to her slick opening.  He knew that he had to loosen her up before they got to their joining, or he’d hurt her.  She moaned, her voice lower than he’d ever heard it, as he carefully moved his finger in and out of her.  Before long, he carefully inserted a second finger and felt her tighten around him.

Maddy tensed when she felt him slip a second finger inside of her.  She hadn’t felt the first because she was still high from his mouth being on her, but now, she felt the second, and she had to admit it hurt a little.  “I’m sorry, Maddy,” he whispered, leaning up to kiss her softly.  “I have to stretch you a little bit, or it’s going to hurt like hell, not that it probably won’t as is; you’re so small.”

“I understand,” she whimpered.  She couldn’t get another word out before her entire body clamped down on his fingers and she let out a high pitched cry.  Nick let his hand go still as she climaxed, her body arching against his.  He could see the tears at the corners of her eyes, and hated that he’d caused them.

“I’m so sorry,” he whispered, withdrawing his fingers from her.

“No, it’s okay,” she gasped, her arms limp at her sides and her hips once again cradling Nick’s without his hand between them.  “I’m okay, that was just way intense.”

She opened her eyes to look up at him and saw the worry, love and awe mixed together in his eyes.  “Are you sure?” he asked softly, his lips caressing her shoulder.

“Positive,” she murmured, finally finding the strength to bring her hands up to his sides.  “Nick, please,” she begged, her legs shifting against his and her hips coming up to strain against his erection.

Nick didn’t say a word, he just gently kissed her again before he propped himself up on one hand and reached between them with the other.  He took a moment to spread some of Maddy’s sticky juices along the fleshy lips of her sex before he took hold of himself and guided himself to her opening.  “This is gonna hurt,” he reminded her.

“It’s okay,” she assured him.  Maddy tensed briefly when she felt the tip of his erection slide into her, but soon she was too focused on the feeling of Nick’s shallow thrusts to think of much else.  Each time, he penetrated a little deeper, causing a bit more discomfort and pain to edge through the haze of their love making.

“Maddy?” he urgently asked when he heard a gasp of pain emit from her throat.  “Baby, are you alright?”

“I’m fine,” she tried to tell him, but they both knew she wasn’t.

Nick bit his lip.  He didn’t want to hurt her, but he knew no matter what, he would.  “I can either keep doing this really slow, or I can give one big thrust and break it.  What do you want me to do, Love?”

“Just break it, please,” she cried, biting her lip as Nick nodded once.  He leaned down, sealed his mouth over hers and gave one swift, deep thrust that seated him inside her body all the way to the root of his erection.  “OW!” Maddy cried out.

“Maddy?” Nick gasped.  Despite the fact that she was in pain, she was amazed to feel him pulsating insider her, and from the look she was getting, she knew that her walls were rippling around him and it was throwing him for a loop.  “Maddy, are you alright?”

“Oh wow,” she whispered, her hands sliding up his sides, her nails lightly grazing his back.  “I never knew…”

Nick’s worry faded and he chuckled, kissing her softly. “There’s more, are you ready?”

“Mmmmhmmm,” she sighed.  She let out a moan as Nick began to gently thrust into her.  Their rhythm was slightly off until Maddy clasped her legs around his and began thrusting up to meet him, despite the soreness in her body.

They were both amazed that they fit so perfectly together, that Nick’s manhood touched her in all the right spots to provoke tiny spasms in her muscles, or that she squeezed him in just the right way to have a shiver running down his spine.  Before long, Maddy was panting and twisting underneath him in a way that told Nick she was close to coming.  Seconds after her body started to buck, he felt her muscles clamp down in unmistakable spasms of climax.

“NICK!” she let loose a scream at the top of her lungs as her body clamped down on his.  Nick forced himself to ride out her climax, stopping to give them both time to recover from it.  “Oh God!” she sobbed afterwards, her arms wrapped tightly around his back.  Nick smiled against her shoulder as his mouth worked its way across her skin.  Her body was still shivering with the after effects of her climax, but he knew soon enough she’d realize he was still fully hard inside of her.

“Who knew it’d take me making love to you to make you so vocal,” he teased, nipping at her earlobe.

“Oh my God,” she uttered, her legs loosening around him.  “You didn’t…” she started, only to have him kiss her.

“I know,” he whispered.  “You didn’t really want to stop after one time, did you?” he teased.

“You’ve already made me come twice,” she whispered.

“Well, you know, the old saying is ‘Third times the charm’” he chuckled.  “Besides, I have an idea, though it might hurt you a little, depending.”

“Hmm?” she asked, her hands caressing his sides.  She let out a gasp when Nick rolled them over and she suddenly found herself sitting on top of him, his manhood still buried deep within her.  “Oh wow,” she moaned.

Nick smiled up at her, his hands caressing her hips and her stomach as she settled into the new position.  “You okay?”

“This is….different,” she giggled.

“It might be a little harder for you to move, so let me know if you get tired,” he told her, rearing up from his position to wrap his arms around her and pull her down to lay on his chest.  Her breasts were pressed against his chest, her mouth was suddenly fused to his, and her lower body ached with her desire to move.  Carefully, she pushed off his chest and sat straight up over him, enjoying the feeling of him being inside of her.

“You know, a girl could get so use to being on top,” Maddy teased, using her knees to push up off him enough so that she could rotate her hips against his, his manhood still firm inside of her.  Nick’s eyes rolled back slightly and he moaned as Maddy figured out how to move her hips in a way to pleasure them both.

It hurt a little as she moved, but soon the new position gave her full realization that she had him at her mercy.  When her legs started to shake from supporting her, Maddy leaned forward, her palms against Nick’s stomach, and began a wild, hard rhythm in hopes of making Nick finally come.

For his part, Nick lay under her, one hand on her hip the other cupping one of her breasts, feeling like he had died and gone to heaven.  Maddy was alternating between pleasuring him and torturing him.  When he felt her hands on his stomach, he knew she was getting tired.  He abandoned her breast and placed both hands on her hips, helping her move her body against him.  Before long, he could feel her body starting to tighten and his own body started to strain toward climax.

Maddy rode him for all she was worth, suddenly aware of the swelling inside of her that she knew meant he was close.  “Nick!” she gasped, throwing her head back and arching against him more forcibly.

“Hmm?”

Grinning wickedly, Maddy leaned down, managed to slow the movement of her hips and whispered, “Come for me,” in his ear.

Nick was so surprised by her comment that he felt his body come unglued.  He let out a hoarse shout as he exploded inside of her body, touching off her own climax.  Madison‘s head snapped back and her body thrust against Nick’s a couple more times before she crashed down on top of his chest, panting, while his arms went around her back.  Nick panted, trying to catch his breath, and let his hands wander across Maddy’s warm back.  He laughed when he felt the material still on her body.  “Baby?”

“Hmm?” Maddy purred, snuggling close.

“You’re still wearing your bra,” he teased, chuckling when Maddy muttered and sat up on him.  With an ease born of practice, Maddy shrugged the offending garment off and tossed it on the floor before lying back down on top of him.

As their bodies came down from the intense highs, the pair began drifting off to sleep.  Nick managed to look over at his alarm clock and saw that it was just after eight.  Carefully, he rolled Maddy off of his chest, making her moan in disappointment, before rolling over to set his alarm for two, so that they could be up before everyone came looking for them and caught them undressed.  Once the alarm was set, Nick rolled over and pulled Maddy into his arms, snuggling her close as they both drifted that final step toward sleep.


	6. Chapter 5: Unexpected Beginnings

**Chapter 5:** Unexpected Beginnings  
 **By:** Pink-Green-White-4ever  
 **Last Revised:** September 23, 2007

 **Summary:** Now that the battle with the Master is over, Daggeron must find his missing family.  But what if they were right under his nose the entire time?  Shocking revelations come that could split the Mystic Force forever.  
 **Rated:** THIS CHAPTER IS RATED MA!  
 **Ships:** NM, VX, CC, UL, DOC

 **Disclaimer:** I don’t own them, I wish I did.

 **Dedication:** For all the Maddick and Vander fans out there!  Thanks for the support!

 **AN:**   This is the MA version of this chapter.  If you can’t handle reading adult content, then please see the M version.  You have been warned.

\--

Xander sighed happily before he bolted awake, feeling the body pressed close to his own.  He’d never woken to find his dreams had come true before, but one look down at the woman in his arms and he about started laughing with barely restrained joy.  Vida’s dark head was nestled in the crook of his shoulder, her slim body was pressed against his side, and she was sound asleep.  The night before, and his frantic search for her came back to him, causing the ball of fear that had been tight in his stomach to come back with a vengeance.  His poor Vida, she’d been through so much.  He brushed her bangs back from her face before lying back down.  A bright green sheet of paper taped to the lamp next to his bed.  He leaned over, careful not to jar Vida, and snatched it.  It was from his mom, saying that he and Vida were to rest, and that she’d called Ella to let her know Vida was with him.

Sighing, Xander tossed the note on the floor and curled around Vida’s body protectively.  As he fell back asleep, his one wish was that he could keep her from all harm.

\--

_He couldn’t help but blink rapidly as he looked up.  He wasn’t in his bedroom anymore, instead, he found himself outside in the forest, with the sun shining overhead and the birds making noise in the trees.  His body felt heavy, like it weighed twice what it should, and he also felt unbelievably content.  When a breeze blew through, he felt a shiver race through him.  Lifting his head, he felt his eyes widen when he looked down and found his body completely devoid of any clothing.  The even bigger shocker was that Vida was lying on top of him, her head on his chest, sound asleep.  “Holy crap.”_

_Vida picked that to be the time to open her eyes and stare up at him.  “Hi,” she smiled softly, cuddling against him._

_“Vida…” he whispered._

_“I’m so relaxed,” she told him, yawning.  Xander felt desire spear through him when she began to peck kisses to his chest before pushing herself to sit up over him.  “Someone feels ready for a second go round.”_

_Xander couldn’t utter another word as she lifted off of him slightly before sinking back down, slowly making love to him.  She was like a goddess above him, her body glowing gold in the sunlight as she rose above him.  Instead of analyzing, he simply enjoyed finally being able to love her openly like he’d always wanted to._

_Just as the two neared the moment of no return, Xander was suddenly ripped from the moment._

“OH!” Vida’s voice lifted, full of what sounded like lust.  It didn’t register with Xander’s brain what was happening until he felt his body caught in the unmistakable grip of something warm and strong.  His eyes shot open as he saw Vida above him, like in his dream, only now they were in his room and Vida was gyrating above him, his body locked tight with hers as she sat caught in the throes of what had to be an incredible orgasm from what Xander could tell.

The shock only lasted a few seconds before Xander felt himself hit the edge.  He automatically thrust up into her, his body exploding his own released in the tight confines of hers.  “V!” he cried out, his voice hoarse as his back arched off the bed.

Once the spasms had passed, the two fell to the bed, panting.  Xander stared at the ceiling, wide eyed and in utter shock as his best friend lay naked on top of him, her chest heaving against him.  He didn’t utter a word when, after a few minutes, Vida pushed herself off of him and headed for his bathroom, leaving him to lay on his bed.  ‘What the hell did we do?’ he thought in a daze.  His dream came back to him, making him wonder if he’d done that, or if the sinking feeling in his stomach meant Vida had initiated whatever had just happened.

He heard the shower start up, but Xander found he couldn’t move.  It was finally hitting him that he and Vida had just had sex, and he was clueless as to how it had come about.  “She did not just leave me lying here,” he muttered, finally pushing up from the bed, the one thought running through his mind being what the hell had happened to make her lose what was left of her mind.

Meanwhile, in the bathroom, Vida turned the shower on as hot as she could get it before crawling under the spray.  The shock of waking up with Xander under her, inside of her, was still coursing through her.  Instead of being a good person and getting off the still sleeping Xander, she’d taken advantage of his clueless-ness and had continued to have sex with him.  For a good long moment, she wondered if she’d lost her mind completely.  Part of her had always wanted him, but she’d never done anything about it because of her fear of having her heart broken.  Xander was a ladies man; he had the reputation of dating anything with breasts and hips that swayed.  “Oh God, what did I just do!” she uttered, sticking her head under the warm spray.

She was so lost in her thoughts that she never heard the bathroom door being thrown open or Xander come stalking in, a wild look on his face.  He took exactly two deep breaths before he jerked the shower curtain open, causing Vida to let out a scream.  “What the hell are you doing?” she asked as water dripped in her face.

“What the hell am I doing?  What the hell just happened in there?” he demanded, jerking his thumb toward his bedroom.  “Cause as far as I can tell, you just had sex with me while I was sound asleep!”  Vida just looked at him before she turned around and continued taking a shower.  She figured if she ignored it, ignored him, the whole situation would go away.  “Vida!”

“GO AWAY!” she yelled, pushing him back a good foot before closing the shower curtain.

Stumbling back, Xander clamped his jaw shut and silently, violently counted to ten before he tore the shower curtain open, almost pulling it off the little hooks on the rod.  He glared at her bare back for all of ten seconds before he realized her shoulders were shaking.  Cursing mentally, he stepped into the shower and slid his arms around her, pulling her back into his chest.  He wasn’t the least bit surprised when she turned and laid her head on his shoulder.  “Talk to me, V.”

“I’m sorry.”

Xander bit back the automatic ‘For What?’ and shook his head while he rubbed his hands up and down her back.  “I’m serious, tell me what happened.”

“I took advantage of you being there,” she muttered, figuring there was nothing else to do but to own up to what had happened.  “I’ve had feelings for you for a while, and when I woke up from that dream…I just….I didn’t care anymore.  I couldn’t stop.  I’m so, so sorry.  I never meant to hurt…”

“I’m not going to say I’m not pissed that you did,” he started, watching her head bow in shame.  “Because, honestly, I’d like a little more control when I’m making love with someone, particularly in me being aware that it’s happening.  However,” he spoke, reaching out and lifting her chin with one of his fingers.  “Considering the newly mentioned feelings, I’m not going to hold it against you.  Seriously, what man in his right mind wouldn’t mind waking up to the snug confines of a sexy woman’s body?  I sure as hell don’t, not in the grand scheme of things.”

Vida swallowed hard, disbelieving that he’d accept her apology so casually after the absolute lack of respect she’d shown him.  “I’m sorry; I shouldn’t have taken advantage of you.”

“No, you shouldn’t have, at least not with me dead asleep.  How exactly, might I ask, are you going to make up for that?” he asked her, his voice barely a whisper.

“I can’t,” she told him.  “I don’t think there’s a way to make up for what I just did.”

“How wrong you are,” he whispered, leaning down so that their faces were mere centimeters apart.  “How about we finish this shower, go back into my room, and you can make it up to me by making love to me, fully awake this time?”

Vida’s eyes grew round with disbelief.  “What?”

“You heard me, I’m not about to repeat myself,” he started, pulling back from her before reaching around her to grab the wash cloth he kept on the metal shower basket on the wall.

“Xander, you can’t be serious,” she muttered.

He leisurely soaped her arms, chest and neck before running the cloth under the water and bringing it back to rinse her off.  “I’m completely serious, why wouldn’t I be?” he nonchalantly asked.

“Xander, I’m not joking, so quit kidding around with me.  You can’t be serious about wanting to have sex with me,” she growled.

“I never said a word about sex,” he reminded her.  “I believe I mentioned you making love to me, with me completely awake.  And why in the hell wouldn’t I want that?”

Vida just stared up at him.  “Because we’re best friends, and it should have never happened.  I had a moment of weakness.”

“No, it wasn’t a moment of weakness, it was you finally giving me the one thing I’ve always wanted,” he grinned at her triumphantly.

The Pink Ranger looked confused.  “Huh?”

“You have feelings for me, you said so yourself.  That little incident this morning proved those feelings are far more than platonic.  As it just so happens,” he told her, looking smug as hell, which confused her even more.  “I happen to share those, definitely non-platonic feelings with you.  Waking up, with your body wrapped around mine, was not only mind blowing it was a long held dream come true, thank you very much.”

Vida shook her head, trying to clear away the confusion and disbelief.  “I…I just…I really don’t get you this morning,” she uttered.  “I took unbelievable, unthinkable advantage of you while you were asleep, and you’re standing here telling me you’re not in the slightest bit mad at me for doing it, and that you in fact have feelings for me.”

Xander’s grin was a slow, easy one that suited his mood.  “Oh, I’m pretty mad at you for it, and eventually, I will get my revenge.  However, I’m more than capable of looking past that, as you’ve just told me you have feelings for me, feelings I happen to return.  Considering the stress you’ve been under lately, I’m honestly not surprised this didn’t happen sooner.”

“You seriously want to make love to me?” she asked, trying to clarify his intentions.

“No,” he told her, watching her eyebrow shoot up.  “I want you to make it up to me and make love to me, only this time I think it might be better if we at least used protection.”

Vida’s eyes went huge at the sudden implications of his comment.  “OH SHIT!”

“V?”

She leaned against him, wrapping her arms around his waist.  Solid, dependable, always there when you need me Xander had feelings for her, the same kinds of feelings she’d been hiding from him for months.  And, damn her desire to lose herself in a distraction from the rest of the world, she may have already damned them both with something that had far reaching consequences.  “Oh, God, I’m so sorry.”

Xander shook his head and tipped her chin up again.  “If there are consequences, we’ll meet them.  It’s not like we don’t have jobs.”

“We don’t need to be bringing a baby into this world when we don’t even know if we’re going to make this odd ass relationship work,” she told him, stating their being together as if it were a forgone conclusion.  Xander could just smile at that.  He wanted her, and apparently, she wanted him just as much, which, really, worked for him on so many levels.  Besides, he still had to get her back for the morning’s surprise attack.

“V, it’s going to be okay, I promise.”

She just shook her head.  “I hope you’re right.”

“Good, now, are you ready to get out and have your way with me?” he teased.  “Because, seriously, I need you, like right now.”

His comments warmed her heart, even as his body pressed close to hers, his arousal proving just how much he needed and wanted her.  “Well gee, since I caused that, it might be best if I took care of it,” she murmured, standing on tip toes to do the one thing she’d never done.  Reaching behind his head, she pulled him down so that their lips met.  It was like fireworks on the Fourth of July exploding inside of her the instant that their mouths met.  “Just so you know if I even see you flirting with another girl, not only will I kill her, I’ll dismember your body and hide it where no one will find it.  Understood?”

Xander tried not to laugh as he nodded his head in agreement.  Quietly, they stepped from the shower, dried off and then made their way back to his room.  When they were standing next to his bed, Vida felt the ball of nerves in her stomach freeze her every movement so that she was standing there staring at him standing by his bed.  Both of them were completely naked, still a little wet from the shower, and she had no idea what to do, at least what to do with him.  She was not new to physical relationships, neither was Xander, but she was new to this, whatever this was.  With Xander, everything was going to be different; she knew that without a doubt.  There was so much more at stake this time around.

“You can’t tell me you don’t know what to do,” he teased, then quieted, seeing the look on her face and in her eyes.

“Everything’s changing so fast,” she whispered.  “Not just us, but everything.”

As if sensing that she was struggling to get her equilibrium back, Xander reached out and took her hand with one of his before tipping her chin up with the other.  “V, everything’s supposed to change, it’s how the world keeps going around, and it’s why we spent a year of our lives fighting a battle not of our making.”

“I don’t want to lose you if this doesn’t work out,” she breathed, revealing a side of herself he had never ever seen.  Vulnerability in the deepest sense of the word.

“The only way you’re going to lose me is if you straight up tell me you don’t want me anymore,” he told her softly, his sincerity showing in his eyes.  “As long as you want me, I’m here, and I’m going to work damn hard to make you love me.”

Vida laughed then, blinking away the two tears in her eyes.  “I already do,” she whispered her confession, watching his face soften at her words.

With a tug on her hand, Vida found herself being pulled into his arms, their bodies pressed close together as his head descended down, and their lips locking together.  Whatever nervousness she felt, it slipped away with the gentle sensation of Xander’s lips caressing her own.  She moaned softly against him, before bringing her arms up to wrap around his neck to take care of the height difference.  When they pulled apart, both of them were breathing harshly and Xander was grinning.  “V?”

“Not fair, I thought I was in charge of this,” she muttered at him, watching the smile on his face increase.

Carefully stepping back, he brought his arms to his sides and grinned.  “By all means, have at it.”

One of Vida’s eyebrows rose as she stared at him.  With a slow, wicked grin, she reached out and tugged on his arm, maneuvering him onto the bed.  Before he could protest, she was crawling up on it with him, carefully sliding her legs over his hips before settling down on his lap, his erection pressed against her center.

“Jesus V!” he gasped.

“You did lock your bedroom door, right?” she huskily asked, pressing her palms to his chest.

Swallowing hard, Xander reached for his wand, which was resting on the bed side table and flicked it at the door, quickly and mentally saying a spell that would bar anyone, magic or otherwise, from opening the door.  “Done.”

“I’m impressed that you managed to do that, considering the distraction,” she lazily told him, leaning down so that her breasts swayed dangerously close to his face.  “But the question is, will it hold?”

“It damn well better hold,” he uttered, his hands smoothing up her toned thighs to her waist, and from her waist up her back.

With a sexy grin aimed at him, Vida carefully leaned down so that they were chest to chest, and began pecking wet, lush kisses to the side of his neck, his cheeks, his collar bone, before she nipped at the shells of his ears and then moved to kiss his mouth.  She found it was so easy to get lost in the fiery kisses that seemed to come out of no where.  With a sense of loss, she pulled back from him, listening to him groan in the process.  “Are you sure you’re ready for this?  I mean, I’m not exactly an amateur,” she teased.

Xander gave her a look that made her chuckle.  He decided then and there that while he wasn’t her first, he was damn well going to be her last.  “I’m aware of that, but I’m damn well going to be your last,” he growled, thrusting his hips up against her, causing her to cry out in surprise.

“No fair,” she muttered, then began to slither down his body, planting kisses along his sternum while she held his arms down with her hands.  “No grabbing for me till I tell you it’s okay,” she breathed, leaving a trail of wet kisses down his stomach, which caused him to groan.

She knew he was watching her, surprised that she was traveling a path down his body he hadn’t expected out of her.  He was about to utter something about how she really didn’t need to do what she was doing when her hand suddenly closed around his aching member and began to rhythmically squeeze in time with the blood pounding in his veins. 

“V,” he groaned, his hips snapping up toward her.

“Alright already, I get the point,” she laughed, straddling his legs, her hands working together to caress him.  She sent him a wicked grin that had him opening his mouth to say something, only to have his eyes widened when she leaned down and wrapped her mouth around him, taking his length in one go.

“SHIT!” he gasped, his head falling back.  “VIDA!”

He heard an erotic pop as her mouth left him and she looked up at him.  “You know, get a little louder, I’m not sure your mother heard you,” she teased before she bent back over him and began treat his hardness like a lollipop.

“Mom’s…at…work…so…is…DAD!” he gasped out, his fingers clenching the sheets, trying to abide by the fact that she hadn’t told him he could touch her, not that he could reach her at this point anyway.

“Oh, that’s good.  I hope the neighbors can’t hear through walls,” she giggled around his cock, the vibration causing him to moan.

The slurping sounds and the heat of her mouth continued to wreck havoc on his senses until he felt the burning at the base of his spine.  He tried to warn her that he was about to come but she either couldn’t hear him or was ignoring him.  “V!” he cried out hoarsely, his body convulsing in several sharp spasms.  His back arched off the bed before flopping back down and all through it, Vida never let up until he lay on the bed shuddering, his body spent.

Because his eyes were closed, Xander never saw her lick her lips nor did he see the giant smile on her face.  He almost forgot she was still even in the room until she crawled up and laid her body over his.  “Are you still alive?” she teased gently, pecking kisses to his neck, occasionally stopping to suck the salty skin she found there.

“You killed me,” he muttered, his breathing still coming in gasps.  “You truly, madly, deeply killed me there, V.”

“Good.”

They lay there quietly for a few moments before Xander’s fingers gently began to move up and down her arm before coming up to tip her chin up so he could nuzzle her neck with his lips.  Vida let out an appreciative purr at the feeling of his lips on her skin before she shifted so that her body was pressed to his, her fingers coming to vice on his bicep.  Each time he nipped at her neck or sucked a particularly sensitive patch of skin, her fingers were rhythmically squeeze his muscle, telling him he’d hit the perfect spot.

Vida had no time to protest as Xander managed to flip her over onto her back, his body snug between her hips, his lips feasting on the soft flesh of her neck before they seared a path to her collar bone.  The roles had suddenly reversed.  “Xander,” she pouted, her back arching as he skimmed close to her breasts but never actually touched them.  “I thought I was in charge here?”

“I changed my mind,” he grinned up at her, seeing her eyes clouded with desire and the intense urge for him to touch her.  “Just hush and let me love you.”

He could see her warring with herself about giving over the reigns he’d handed her, but when his tongue lashed across the hardened tip of her nipple, he watched all coherent thought vanish.  Smiling, he redirected his attention to the beautiful flesh before him, his eyes feasting alongside his mouth, which inhaled the tasty flesh, his tongue swirling around the tip.

Vida gasped loudly, her hands flying up to his head where her fingers twined into the strands of his hair while she held him close to her chest.  The sounds of his nursing at her breast were both erotic and strangely calming at times.  Her back arched into him even as her legs slid up to wrap around his waist, the sensations he was causing drowning out everything else.  There was no world for her outside of the bed they were laying in or the way Xander’s lips and tongue were torturing her highly sensitive breasts.

“Xander!  Please!” she mewed softly, the ache between her thighs finally turning into a searing fire that was causing her to lose what was left of her already shredded mind.

He didn’t respond, he simply mapped a path down her body, just as she had done to him, with his lips and hands, seeking to push her to her limits.  When he got to her belly button, he sent her a smirk and dipped his tongue in, playing with the tiny space.  She squirmed beneath him and shot him a glare that had him chuckling and moving on.  His smile grew wicked when she gasped, obviously feeling his hot, moist breath hovering over the most intimate part of her body.  “Feel free to scream, love,” he told her, seconds before his mouth connected with her body in what she could only remotely describe as the most sensual open mouth kiss she’d ever had.

“SHIT!” she screamed the second his agile tongue darted through the fleshy lips of her sex and buried itself in the pulsing walls of her womanhood.

Xander smirked against her and slid his hands down underneath the firm flesh of her ass, holding her to his mouth even as her hips bucked against his invasion.  The sound of her rapidly deepening voice, which was announcing her absolute appreciation for what he was doing, caused his own arousal to start hardening again.  Turning his attention back to the task at hand, Xander pulled back and then darted his tongue forward, using it to stab at her sensitive clit, causing her to thrash and gasp in surprise.  He carefully swirled his tongue around it, experimenting with different ways to tease and torment her.  He loved the warmth that pulsed around him, the taste of her natural fluids as they slowly touched the tip of his tongue, but most of all, the sight of her withering against the bed, her breasts thrust upward while her worked her like a finely tune instrument made his heart soar to new heights.  He was doing this to her; he was the reason she was barely hanging onto the last slips of her sanity while her body worked itself, with minimal help from him, toward that ultimate peak.

When he felt the tightening of her muscles and the erratic movement of her hips, he turned his attention solely to her clit, sucking it between his lips and rubbing the flat of his tongue against it.  Her voice hit a new pitch as she screamed, her hips jerking against his face while her hands pushed him closer to her body.  Her inner muscles contracted in one long, glorious spasm, which he smiled at, feeling prouder of himself than he’d ever been.  He’d done that to her, he’d made her come so hard she was gasping for air and twitching uncontrollably.

While she flopped back on the bed, trying to regain a steady breathing pattern, he carefully pulled back and then began licking her, hoping to help ease her body back down from the high it had just hit.  When he felt her pushing on his forehead slightly, he took that as the signal that she’d had more than enough.  Reaching up, he wiped her honey from his face and crawled back up on the bed with her.  “V?” he whispered quietly, stretching out next to her, his cock jumping as it brushed against her hip.  He groaned softly when she turned her body toward him, so that they were laying face to face, and he felt his desire brush against the soft curls at the apex of her thighs.  “You okay love?”

“I seriously thought I was going to have a heart attack,” she uttered against his chest, causing him to chuckle.  “God, part of me wants to thank the girl who taught you that and part of me wants to find her and kick her ass.”

Xander just grinned into her hair, his arms wrapped around her, holding her to him.  “Happy to oblige,” he teased.  “And please, let’s not talk about where I learned that, because honestly, I’m not really sure where it came from.”

They laid there quietly for a few moments, fingers rubbing and caressing any patch of skin they could reach, the desire to be together again building.  Xander suddenly had the urge to find out what it was like to be buried so deep inside of her that he thought he’d choke while she came around his cock.  With a deliberate nudge, he pushed her onto her back and leaned across her, reaching for the top drawer of his nightstand.  Vida was about to question him when she realized what he was reaching for.  “Oh yeah, definitely don’t need to go the unsafe route again,” she whispered as he grinned, before leaning down to kiss her softly.

With his prize in hand, Xander sat up quickly, using his teeth to tear the foil package open.  He was about to tug the latex free when Vida’s nimble fingers snatched it away from him.  The look she shot him had him laying back on the bed while she got on her knees, leaning over him.  With a sexy grin, she reached out and took his throbbing cock in her hands, her grip tightening and then releasing, her goal to push him toward the edge while causing his length to harden even further.

“V!” his strangled cry told her that playtime was over.  With experienced fingers, she took the latex condom and rolled it down over him, making sure it was snuggly in place before she threw her leg over his, straddling his muscular thighs.  With a grin, she gently gripped him again, noting the groan of appreciation that he let out at the contact.  The simple fact that he was enjoying this as much as she was, that he was more than ready for this, pushed her to finally complete their joining, both of them ready and willing this time.  With a shift of her hips, she rose up over him, then slowly sank down on his solid length, her eyes rolling back as he filled her.  She’d been with others before, but none had filled her body, or her heart, as completely as Xander did.  She paused for several moments, her chest heaving as she struggled to not move, wanting to enjoy this moment of clarity.  Slowly, she opened her eyes and stared down at him, watching him watch her, and saw in his eyes the same emotion she was feeling; this felt like home.

“Vida, for the love of God!” Xander choked, his hands sliding to her hips, his fingers digging into her skin.  “I’m begging you, move, please!”

His words shook her back to reality, causing her to look down at him.  Without a word, she snapped her hips up and away from him before impaling herself again, this time just as slowly as the first, making sure that she squeezed her inner muscles every inch of the way down.  Xander’s hands shook and his eyes began to roll back as her body enveloped his in its tight, slick depths.  Vida continued the pattern a few more times, making sure that she twisted her body just right on each downward thrust, causing him to bit his lip to keep from yelling out at the pleasure.

Finally having had enough of her teasing, Xander swiftly rolled them over on the bed.  Vida let out a squeak of surprise which turned into a passionate moan that swelled as Xander plunged forward, imbedding himself in her body before he withdrew and repeated the process.  “Love you,” Vida panted, her hands sliding up his sides, her fingers digging into the skin covering his ribs.

“Love you,” he breathed, thrusting a little bit harder and a little bit faster, his body feeling like it had been set on fire by the maelstrom of feelings overtaking him.

Their bodies continued to pump off heat as their skin slicked, hips meeting in a rhythm that had gone from loving to frantic before either of them could comprehend it.  Xander’s lips found her neck and breasts, his sucking almost leaving marks on her delicate skin with the force of his desire, one that matched the wild pumping of their hips.  Vida’s voice came out in moans and squeaks of pleasure every time he bottomed out in her tight, slick wetness.  The feel of his body cradled by her soft thighs was almost enough to send him over the edge, but he wanted nothing more than to watch her in the throes of an orgasm while he was still rock hard and seated inside of her.

“Xander!” Vida cried out, her legs coming up to vice around his hips while her own hips arched off the bed in her attempt to trap him inside of her.

The former Green Ranger continued to thrust his rigid erection into her body, feeling her muscles clamp down on him, not wanting him to leave and hoping to milk his own orgasm right from his body.  What neither of them noticed was that during their panting, their teasing, or the absolute freedom they’d given to each other, they had begun to float, literally, off Xander’s bed.

“V, so close,” Xander grunted, shifting his hips into her at an even faster pace than before.  She was so close he could all but feel her orgasm building, but the swelling of his cock told him he was going to come before her if they kept this up.  An idea sprung into his head, causing him to grin wickedly.  Before Vida could protest, she felt a firm, circular caress being applied to her clit.  Opening her eyes, she looked down their bodies and found Xander’s hand between them, his fingers sliding against her honey-soaked opening, the skilled digits caressing her pearl.

It only took several firm passes over her clit before he had her body convulsing, her muscles clamping down on his erection as her body hit the pinnacle of pleasure and dove off the bottomless edge.  He blinked in surprise, watching her body suddenly light up with the signature pink of her power.  He didn’t have time to analyze as his own body suddenly coiled in response, his back going rigid as he shot spurt after spurt of his passion into the condom he wore, all the while Vida’s body still locked in her own orgasm.  “Xander?” she panted softly, pulling him down to her so that she could kiss his collar bone.

“Damn V,” he moaned into her neck, his body suddenly giving into exhaustion.

“Xander?” she spoke, her voice filled with confusion.

“Hmm?”

“Why the can I see the speckles of plaster on your ceiling?”

In confusion, Xander moved to lean back and let out a cry of surprise.  “SHIT!”

Vida, alarmed by his alarmed tone, looked over the edge of what she thought was the bed, only to find herself several feet in the air.  “What the hell!”

At her indignant tone, Xander started laughing and wrapped his arms around her.  “Talk about losing control of your powers,” he tittered at her.  “I’m so happy to oblige you, love.”

“Xander, this isn’t funny!” she squeaked, then let out a startled yelp as they fell to the bed.  Luckily, Xander had been half way expecting that to happen and managed to roll them at the last second, so that she came crashing down on his chest.  “Are you okay?”  He could only nod, having had the air knocked out of him.  “Serves you right for teasing me,” she mumbled, before something near the window caught her eye.  Turning her head, she stared over at Xander’s horticulture project and gasped.

“What?”

Snickering, Vida pointed her hand in the direction of the once pretty plant.  “Seems I’m not the only one who lost control over their powers.”

Turning his head, Xander let out a startled cry when he saw that his bonsai tree had all but exploded to life, now nearly eight times its normal size.  “HOLY SHIT!  How am I going to explain that to my parents!” he moaned in disbelief.

Vida didn’t answer him, she simply fell down on his chest, laughing.

\--

Daggeron’s expression gave nothing of what he was feeling away as he stomped onto the porch of the Rocca household.  Both Maddy and Vida were safe, which took a great deal off his shoulders, but he was bound and determined to speak with Alexander Rocca for what he’d said and did to his daughters.  Daggeron respected the man for taking on two children who were not his own and loving them as best as he could, but to simply treat them the way he had once they’d found their father was unforgivable.  Reigning in the anger that loomed under the surface, Daggeron stopped at the door and rang the doorbell.

A few seconds passed before the door slowly opened, revealing a disheveled looked Ella, who gasped in shock at seeing Daggeron.  “What are you doing here?”

“I want to speak to your husband,” he told her, his temper barely held in check.  “He and I have a few things to discuss.”

“Daggeron, now isn’t a good time,” she started, then gasped when sparks started around his clenched hands.

“Go get him, Elektra.  I have things to say to him, and they will not wait.”

Swallowing, she nodded and shut the door behind her.  He could hear her in the room just beyond the door, speaking to someone, before footsteps followed and Alexander opened the door.  Daggeron’s teeth ground together as he stared at the unshaven, worn looking man who had raised his daughters.  “What can I do for you?” Alex asked.

“First of all, you can explain to me why I’ve just spent the better part of the night searching for my runaway daughter?  Then you can explain to me what in the Gods’ names has gotten into that head of yours that you could say such things to two young women who love you so much that choosing between us is practically tearing them apart.  And then we’re going to move onto the fact that I ought to be beating you to a bloody pulp, as Chip so eloquently put it this morning.  So, you pick where you want to start.”

Alex paled as Daggeron’s anger lashed out at him.  “I have no excuse.”

“You’re right, you don’t, but I want to hear one anyway,” Daggeron told him.  “Madison and Vida are torn up about this, and both of them are lashing out in the only way they know how.  Do you have any idea how hard it is for them to be dealing with this?  Trust me when I say it’s far worse than how you’re feeling.  They feel like they’re betraying you, the man who was supposed to love them, who raised them as his own, if they choose me and if they choose you, they feel like they’re betraying the man they are only now learning is their father, but has been mentor, counselor and friend to them for the better part of a year.”

“As I said, I have no excuse,” Alex muttered.  “Other than to say I felt like I was losing my girls, my babies,” he choked, moving to sit on the porch swing.  “You’re right, I’ve raised them as my own, loved them as if they were truly mine, but it’s always been there, in the back of mine and Ella’s minds, the memory of a man neither of us knew, who they belonged to.  You can’t know how many nights I sat and watched them sleep; how many nights I prayed you’d never come for them.  It got easier as the years went by, as Ella’s already shattered memories faded, until there was only our family, but still, always, were lingering thoughts of ‘What if he comes for them’.  I knew it wasn’t just the girls I’d lose, it was Ella too.”

Daggeron’s anger all but disappeared at the emotionally charged words Alexander was giving him.  Still, he pressed on, hoping to make Alexander see that there was room for them both in the girls’ lives.  “So you were scared, does that give you the right to hurt them so needlessly?  They were the innocent victims in this, they didn’t deserve to have their family ripped from them before they were even born, nor did they deserve to have your hatred and fear of me clouding your judgment where they are concerned.”

“I know I was wrong, and if, God willing, they give me a chance, I will make it up to them,” Alex vowed.

“Then start by accepting that they love us both,” Daggeron told him.  “I’ve come to know them well in the last year, neither will forgive easily, nor will they ever forget; you damaged your relationship with them, and it will never be quite the same.  Maddy will forgive you sooner; she has the ability to see past things much more clearly than Vida.  Your greatest challenge will be in getting Vida to forgive you, but know this, you may need to prepare for the fact that she may never completely forgive you.”

“Are they alright?”

The Solaris Knight nodded.  “Vida is over at the Bly household with Xander, and Madison is at Rootcore with Nick.  They’re fine, physically.  Mentally and emotionally, it may be some time before they are.”

Alex nodded, knowing he spoke the truth.  “Ella and I have decided if they wish to move in with you, until we can come to a truce, then so be it.”

“That’s up to them; don’t be surprised if they jump at the chance.  I have to get back, give my regards to Ella,” Daggeron spoke, turning for the stairs.

“Can I ask you something?” Alex called out, causing Daggeron to turn back toward him.  “Why haven’t you pushed her?  You have every reason to want her back.”

Daggeron’s eyes were full of so much sadness that it stole Alex’s breath.  “Neither of us are as we remember the other,” he spoke softly.  “She has a new life, a family, children and a husband who need her, and I am more changed than I care to admit after the battle with the Master and my imprisonment.  It would do no good to push, when I know we cannot go back to how we were.  I will always love her, love the time I had with her, and cherish the memories of that time.  She has given me two miracles that I not only love and cherish, but admire and respect, and for that, the least I can do is leave her be.”

“You don’t give her enough credit.”

“I know she will love me, always, especially now that she has her memories back, but as I said, you cannot change what is, or how we are now.  I’ll be in touch.”  That said, Daggeron strolled away, leaving Alexander to stare at his retreating back.

\--

Daggeron stood on the ridge looking down over the ruins of the castle he’d once called home.  So much had changed since he’d last walked those halls; so much that made him feel so very old.  Closing his eyes, memories washed over him, leaving him with a sense of loss so profound, it nearly toppled him.  It was, however, the overwhelming sense of joy and relief he felt from whomever was approaching, that brought him back to the here and now.  As he’d told Alexander a few days before, the past was the past, and there was no sense in him trying to live within it.  Opening his eyes, he smiled.  He could feel the change in the wind and smell the faint saltiness of the sea; it could mean only one thing – his daughters had come to join him on his trip down memory lane.

Two small, delicate hands found their ways into his as the girls stepped up on either side of him.  Carefully releasing them, he reached his arms out to wrap around their shoulders, drawing them against his sides.  “Udonna said we’d find you here,” Vida spoke up first, leaning her head against his shoulder.

“Are you alright?” Madison’s question was whispered as she burrowed into his side.

He could do nothing but smile as he held them tight.  He wasn’t alright, nor would he be for a very long time, but the two graceful, intelligent, beautiful, and loving young women now holding onto him would go a long way to helping him down that path of healing.  “I’ll be fine,” he whispered, pecking a soft kiss to both their heads.

“Dad, you’re a bad liar,” Vida pointed out, poking him in the side.

Love and pride and hope soared through every fiber of his being at that simple name she called him.  In the days since his talk with Alexander, Vida had taken to calling him dad a lot easier than Maddy had, not that he was upset with his youngest.  Madison’s heart was simply still too torn to change as rapidly as her sister, which was fine with him.  He noticed more and more that she was starting to accept that he was not just friend and mentor, but father now as well.

“Yes, well, I’ve never had a need for lying before,” he teased.  “How about the two of you?”

“We’re dealing,” Maddy whispered, looking up at him from her place on his shoulder.  “It’s never going to be the way it was, and we have to accept that, but it’s not as bad as it may have seemed in the beginning.”

“Have you decided what you’re going to do now that you’re going to be graduating in a few months?”

“Get apartments?  Move as far away from Mom and Alex as possible,” Vida muttered, only to receive a stern look from her father and a disapproving look from her sister.  “What?”

“We talked about this, didn’t we?” Madison growled.  “You’re not being fair, to either of them.”

The Pink Ranger huffed at the hurt coming from her twin.  “I can’t help it.”

“Well try,” Maddy snapped.  “It’s not been easy on them either, or Dad for that matter.  You just snipping about it every time it’s brought up isn’t going to help matters.”

Daggeron just smiled at his daughters as they continued to argue while the trio headed back towards the path leading to Rootcore.  It was going to prove to be an interesting next few months, but then, given everything that had already happened, he wouldn’t change any of it for the world.


	7. Epilogue: Into The Future

Epilogue: Into The Future  
**By:** Pink-Green-White-4ever  
**Last Revised:** October 11, 2007

**Summary:** Graduation, a talk, moving, and a few surprises!  
**Rated:** T  
**Ships:** NM, VX, CC, UL, DOC  
**Disclaimer:** I don’t own them, I wish I did.

**Dedication:** To all the MF fans, hope you enjoyed the journey

**AN:** Okay, so this is the final chapter of this story, BUT, for all of you loyal fans of this story, I’m leaving it open for a sequel, just cause I like working with these characters

\--

“Xander Dimitri Bly.”

“Madison Dalila Rocca.”

“Vida Anila Rocca.”

“Charles Luken Thorn.”

“Congratulations to the Class of 2008!”

\--

The Rock Porium was alive with celebration. The store was decorated in pink, blue, green and yellow streamers, balloons, and confetti. Music was blaring out from the sound system at the D.J. stand, which for once wasn’t manned by Vida. Nick and Leelee were at the refreshments table, setting out glasses for punch and cutting the large sheet cake that Ella had gotten for the four graduates. Madison and Vida’s brothers and sister were running around, causing all sorts of mischief while family, friends, and fellow classmates of the former Rangers mingled, shared stories, and just got to hang out together. The graduation ceremony had been short but memorable. They’d had wonderful speeches from their principal, the valedictorian and salutatorian, and Udonna had even been invited to participate, blessing the class with future success on behalf of the magical realm, and of course the Power Rangers.

“So what are you going to do now that you’ve graduated?” Nikki asked the four, who were at the center of the room.

“Well, Maddy and I found an affordable apartment not far from here,” Vida started. “We’re going to take classes at the University and work here. Since Mom and Alexander work there, we get free tuition.”

“Have you decided what you’re going to study yet?” Toby wanted to know.

“Film,” Maddy grinned widely. “Vida’s taking music and business classes.”

“Why does that not surprise me,” Leelee giggled, coming up to lean against her mother. “By the way, what’s with you two and those two handsome boys standing over there staring at you?”

Vida and Maddy whirled around in the direction Leelee was pointing and saw Nick and Xander grinning at them and nudging each other. Both girls were blushing when they turned around. “What do you mean?” Vida countered, hoping to try and act like she didn’t know what Leelee was talking about.

“You four have been awfully chummy lately. I mean, I know Nick and Maddy have been dating for a while now, but what about you and Xander?” Leelee nudged her friend, who again, blushed beat red.

Vida didn’t get a chance to answer because Nick and Xander had finally joined the group, each slipping their arms around their respective girlfriend. “Love?” Xander started, causing Vida to tilt her head to the side and back.

“What?” she asked, sounding slightly embarrassed by his affectionate nickname, even though it sent little flutters straight down to her stomach and curled her toes.

“Come with me?” he asked.

“Why?”

Xander gave her a mildly suffering look that had her trying not to laugh. “I have something I need to talk to you about.”

Vida rolled her eyes but nodded in agreement and let him lead her out the front door toward the park across the street. He let her hand go and stopped at the edge of the park. “Xander, what are you doing?” she asked, turning toward him, only to find he wasn’t standing there. Instead, Alexander Rocca was standing before her, an apologetic and hopeful expression on his face. “What the hell do you want?”

“Can we talk?” he softly asked her, wondering if he was every going to be able to make it up to his spunky, independent daughter.

“Why should I even give you the satisfaction?” Vida laughed humorlessly. “You don’t care, you’re just trying to make yourself look good to my mother and my sister, and you don’t want my dad using his magic against you.”

Her words cut deep, she knew, because she saw him visibly wince at the words ‘my dad’. It seemed like a lifetime ago when she’d called him that, and it had really only been a few months. No matter how long ago it had been, the hurt he’d caused by his inability to accept that she’d found her biological father still cut as deeply now as it had been. Vida knew that the image she projected to the world was a tough, independent, capable woman who had become a Power Ranger and was making a life for herself, but she had been a daddy’s girl at heart, and the one she’d always called Daddy had ripped that heart right out of her chest and all but destroyed it.

Forgiveness would not come easy, because she was so afraid of being hurt again. They stared at each other for a very long time, the silence hanging between them. “Vida, I have things to say to you, that I’ve been trying to say for months, will you listen to me? Please?”

“Fine, you’ve got five minutes, and then I’m going to go find my boyfriend and kick his ass,” she muttered.

“This isn’t Xander’s fault, your mother asked him to help,” he told her, walking toward her only to watch her turn and walk away from him, her destination the path around the park. He fell into step beside her, his hands in his pockets. “First of all, I need to apologize to you.”

She kept her eyes on the path before her, but her stance shifted a tiny bit toward him. “For what?”

“For not acting like a man who loved his daughters with every fiber of his being, for flipping out when I thought I was losing you,” he told her honestly, his eyes full of emotion and his voice trembling. “I made a big mistake, I leapt without thinking, and I said things in the heat of the moment because I didn’t take a step back from my fears to think it over rationally. I’m human, Vida, much like everyone else on Earth. I made the biggest mistake of my life. Forbidding you from even being with Daggeron was stupid, childish, and uncalled for. I’ve had months to think about it, and I am genuinely happy that you’ve found him, that he’s found you.”

“You hurt me!” she threw at him, her lips trembling as her eyes filled. “You hurt Maddy, you hurt Mom! How can you expect me to ever forgive you? I wasn’t ever going to let him replace you!” she all but screamed the last part. “You’re the only father I’ve ever known, how could you think I’d let him replace you? Yes, I’d have made room for him in my heart, as I already had the day he became mentor and friend! BUT YOU WERE MY FATHER!”

Alexander looked at her and for the first time, he noticed exactly how much his little girl had grown up. “Because I know you’re so much more mature then I’ve ever given you credit for,” he whispered. “Because you’re more of an adult than I can ever claim to be.”

Vida just stared at him, hurt arrowing so deeply through her that she thought she’d choke on it. “I hate you.”

The elder Rocca swallowed hard, understanding that he deserved her hatred after what he’d put her through. “Vida…”

“No, you went too far, and the hurt runs too deeply for me to forgive you right now,” she told him, knowing her words would leave and opening for him to hope he could earn her trust back. “I don’t think I’ll ever be able to consider you my father again, at least not now. Friend, eventually, but I just can’t forgive as quickly as Maddy can. Maybe that makes her a better person, but I don’t care.”

He hurt. Hearing her say the words hurt. And he knew he’d brought it on himself. “I can settle for friend, for now. Will you accept my apology?”

“Actions speak louder than words, so we’ll see,” she told him, her body vibrating with every emotion whirling through her.

Alexander watched her walk away from him, his heart breaking with every step that carried her farther from him. When she’d gone back the way they’d come, disappearing from sight, he finally moved over to the nearby bench, buried his face in his hands, and cried for what he’d done to his little girls.

\--

Vida ran as fast as her legs could carry her. Tears blurred her vision but she refused to let them fall. So much pain was welling in her chest. It just wasn’t fair; on a day when she should have been happy and celebrating, she was once again on the verge of an emotional break down. As she neared the exit of the park that was across from the record store, she saw a tall, familiar figured standing there with worry etched across his face. As pissed off at him as she was, she just didn’t care. Without a word, she slowed down and walked toward him, looking up into his face. His feelings were plain as day; he was worried about her, but most of all, he loved her so much. Biting back a sob, she rushed the last two feet into his arms, burying her face against his chest while his arms slid around her.

“I’m so sorry,” he murmured softly, his lips pecking kisses to the top of her head while one hand held the back of her head and the other stroked up and down her back. “Your mom just asked me to help; she didn’t tell me it was because he wanted to talk to you. If I had known…”

“Just hold me,” she managed to utter, her arms locked around his waist as she held on for dear life.

They stood there for what seemed like hours before Vida groggily raised her head and looked up into his eyes. “If there anything I can do?” he asked softly, bringing a hand up to wipe the tears from her eyes. His heart wrenched when two lone tears slipped passed the pad of his thumb and spilled down her cheek.

“I want to go back to our party, and I want to enjoy our celebration. I’ve had enough sad things for one day,” she whispered, reaching up and swiping the back of her hand over her face.

Xander nodded and leaned in to kiss her forehead before tipping her chin up and caressing her smooth lips with his own. “If you don’t believe anything else, please believe that I love you,” he told her honestly, watching a smile light her face.

“Right now, that’s the only true thing I know,” she replied, watching him smile at her. “I must look absolutely horrible right now.”

“No, you look beautiful, V, as always, but you might want to do a simple glamour, just to mask that you’ve been crying from those who can’t see through magic. The others probably already know what happened.”

Nodding, Vida took a step back, closed her eyes and slowly brought her hands up over her face, her magic instantly removing the remnants of her crying jag. When she opened her eyes, they wavered for a moment, allowing Xander to see the glamour working before he saw through it. “Good?” she asked.

“Perfect, as always,” he laughed. “Come on, Maddy’s probably starting to worry.” Taking her hand, he walked her back to the party, hoping that for now they could put the pain behind them, even if for a little while.

\--

“GREAT CEASAR’S GHOST!” Chip exclaimed as he and Nick dropped yet another heavy piece of furniture inside the modest two bedroom apartment the Rocca sisters had rented out.

“How the heck can you two have so much crap?” Nick muttered. “I mean, damn, didn’t you two share a room?”

Vida stood in the doorway, with Xander right behind her, glaring at the two boys while Maddy came out of the kitchen where she’d taken a box and had her arms crossed and was giving Nick a look that said he was in so much trouble. “Can it, both of you,” Vida snapped. “We’ve had a lot of stuff in storage since we had to start sharing a room a few years ago.”

Xander started cracking up as Chip and Nick put up the ‘I surrender’ poses. “Say V, I got a question for ya?”

“What?” she asked, looking over her shoulder even as she carried the box of shoes toward her room.

“Can I help you unpack your, um, unmentionables?” Xander teased as he held up the box he was carrying marked Vida underclothes. Vida gave him a look as they disappeared into her bedroom, the door closing behind him a few seconds later.

“Well, I guess it’s a good thing we’ve only got minor stuff to bring up,” Maddy sighed, leaning against Nick’s shoulder. “We won’t be seeing those two for a few hours now.”

Nick shook his head and wrapped Maddy in his arms while Chip made a face. “You know, the thought of Vida and Xander having sex…it gives me the same heebie jeebies that the thought of my parents having sex gives me,” the former Yellow Ranger muttered as he headed out the door for more boxes.

Maddy made a face while Nick cracked up at that. “He’s got a point,” Nick muttered.

The former Blue Ranger gave him a look. “How do you think he feels knowing we’re having sex?” Her only answer was Nick’s fading laughter as he headed back outside to help Chip.

\--

“All we can do is wait,” Maddy murmured, sliding down the bathroom wall opposite of where her sister sat on the toilet, face buried in her hands and elbows resting on her knees.

“Maddy, how the hell did this happen to us?” Vida’s question was muffled by her hands.

The former Blue Ranger brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. “I don’t know,” she whispered. “We’ve always been the two who stayed out of this kind of trouble.”

The two let their eyes dark over to the bathroom counter where two little white wands sat next to a kitchen timer that was steadily clicking away. It had been a surprise to Maddy when Vida had come to her a week before and mentioned she’d been late for her period, until the former Blue Ranger had done the math on her own and realized she too was late. Both girls had freaked out and resolved to find out the answer to the serious dilemma together after work on the last night of the week.

They both broke their Friday night dates with their boyfriends, citing that they had something of utter importance to take care of. Now here they were, locked in the bathroom together, waiting for the home pregnancy tests to give them a verdict.

“I feel like I’m going to throw up,” Vida gasped.

“Please, don’t, now is not the time to get sick,” Maddy told her, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the wall.

When the timer ticked off, they both jumped. Their eyes met as they both stood up on wobbly legs and moved to the counter of their shared bathroom. “I’m scared, Maddy,” Vida admitted.

Maddy reached over and took her sister’s left hand. “I’m terrified, but at least we’re together,” she murmured. “Ready?” With a shaky nod from Vida, the pair reached out to find out exactly what the tests said about their futures.

\--

Well, that’s it, it’s finished. Thanks for all the support. Enigmaforum and angel17712 thank you for all the support, encouragement, and laughter. I dedicate this to you both!

And guess what, YES – there will be a sequel! ;P


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